^berkeley\  • 

LIBRARY    I 

UNIVERSITY  OF     I 
^      CALIFOR^M/ 


0-* 


^ 
•# 


SIN  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES. 


BY  THE   SAME  AUTHOR. 


The  Vatican  Council  and  its  Definitions.  By  Henry  Edward, 
Archbishop  of  Westminster. 

CONTENTS. 
1.   The  World  and   the  Council.     II.   The  Two   Constitutions.     III.   The 
Terminology  of  the  Doctrine  of  Infallibility.     IV.  Scientific  History  of  the 
Catholic  Rule  of  Faith.     V.  Result  of  the  Definition.    VI.  Appendix. 

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of  the  Day;  The  Fourfold  Sovereignty  of  God;  and,  The 
Grounds  of  Faith. 

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The   Temporal   Mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;   or,  Reason  and 

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SIN 


AND 


ITS    CONSEQUENCES. 


BY 


HENRY    EDWARD, 

ARCHBISHOP  OF  WESTMINSTER. 


NEW   YORK: 

D      &    J.    SADLIER   &   COMPANY, 

31   BARCLAY  STREET. 

MONTREAL:— 275   NOTRE   DAME    STREET. 


Ml 


g^t^ZS 


iOAN 


SIA.C& 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 

THE  NATURE  OF  SIN -.        .        .      9 

It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  ;  for  if  I  go  not,  the  Para- 
clete will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but  if  I  go,  I  will  send  Him 
to  you ;  and  when  He  is  come,  He  shall  convince  the  world 
of  sin.    St.  John  xvi.  7. 

II. 

MORTAL  SIN  ... .        .    39 

If  any  man  shall  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto 
death,  he  shall  ask,  and  life  shall  be  given  unto  him  that  sin- 
neth  not  unto  death.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death :  I  do  not 
say  for  that  any  man  shall  ask.  All  iniquity  is  sin ;  and  there^ 
is  a  sin  unto  death.    1  St.  John  v.  16,  17. 

III. 

VENIAL  SIN 71 

He  that  knoweth  his  brother  to  sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto 
death,  let  him  ask,  and  life  shall  be  given  to  him  who  sinneth 
not  to  death.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death  :  for  that  I  say  not 
that  any  man  ask.    1  St.  John  v.  16. 

IV. 

SINS  OF  OMISSION .-       .        .    103 

Who  can  understand  sins  ?  From  my  secret  sins  cleanse 
me,  O  God.    Psalm  viii.  13. 

(v) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

V. 

PAGE 

THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE      ....  131 

Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive, 
they  are  forgiven  them ;  whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are 
retained.    St.  John  xx.  22,  23. 

VI. 
TEMPTATION .        .        .163 

Then  Jesus  was  led  by  the  Spirit  into*  the  desert  to  be 
tempted  by  the  devil.    St.  Matt.  iv.  1. 

VII. 

THE  DERELICTION  ON  THE  CROSS 203 

From  the  sixth  hour  there  was  darkness  over  the  whole 
earth  until  the  ninth  hour ;  and  about  the  ninth  hour  Jesus 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  :  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ? 
that  is  to  say,  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
Me  ?    St.  Matt,  xxvii.  45. 

VIII. 

THE  JOYS  OF  THE  RESURRECTION 233 

Jesus  said  unto  her :  Mary.  She  saith  unto  Him  :  Rabboni : 
lhat  is  to  say,  Master.    St.  John  xx.  16. 


I. 


THE  NATUKE   OP  SIN 


THE    NATURE    OF    SIN. 


It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go :  for  if  I  go  not,  the  Paraclete 
will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but  if  I  go,  I  will  send  Him  to  you ;  and 
when  He  is  come,  He  shall  convince  the  world  of  sin.    John  xvi. 

Singe  last  Lent  began,  how  many  souls  that  were 

gathered  here  have  passed  into  eternity.    And  before 

another  Lent  begins,  how  many  will  stand  before  the 

Great  "White  Throne.     Who  among  ns  shall  be  the 

first  to  go  to  judgment  %     Let  us,  therefore,  enter 

upon  this  Lent  as  if  knowing  it  to  be  our  last ;  let 

us  begin  this  time  of  conversion  to  God  as  if  we  were 

sure  that  another  would  never  be   granted  to  us. 

"  Bring  forth,  therefore,  fruits  worthy  of  penance, 

for  now  the  axe  is  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree  ;  every 

tree,  therefore,  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is 

hewn  down,  and  cast  into  the  fire."  *   These  thoughts 

have  made  me  choose  a  subject,  sad  indeed  and  severe 

in  all  its  parts,  but  vital  to  every  one  of  us,  necessary 

for  our  salvation,  the  root  and  the  foundation  of  all — 

*  St.  Matt.  iii.  8-10. 
1*  (9) 


10  THE   NATURE   OF    SIN. 

I  mean  sin,  its  nature,  its  effects,  its  consequences. 
And  I  have  chosen  this  subject  because  there  can  be 
none  other  so  necessary,  and  because  the  precept  of 
the  Church,  binding  us  all  to  confession  and  com- 
munion at  Easter,  begins  more  urgently  to  warn  the 
conscience  of  every  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
I  therefore  appeal  to  you  all.  I  appeal  to  your  con- 
science to  fulfill,  each  one  of  you  for  yourselves,  this 
duty  of  salvation ;  and  not  for  yourselves  alone. 
Fathers  and  mothers,  warn  your  families  and  house- 
holds ;  friends  and  neighbors,  warn  with  humility 
and  charity  all  whom  you  know  to  be  neglecting  the 
practice  of  their  duty  to  God. 

The  words  of  our  Divine  Saviour  reveal  to  us 
what  is  the  work  and  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  "  He 
shall  convince  the  world  of  sin."  Both  in  the  old 
creation  and  in  the  new,  both  before  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God  and  after  His  ascension  into 
heaven,  it  has  been,  and  it  is,  and  it  will  be  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  the  work  and  the  office  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  convince  the  world  of  sin  ;  that  is  to 
say,  to  convince  the  intellect,  and  to  illuminate  the 
reason  of  man  to  know  and  to  understand  what  sin 
is ;  and  also  to  convict  the  consciences  of  men,  one 
by  one,  of  their  sinfulness,  and  to  make  them,  each 
one,  conscious  that  they  are  guilty  before  God.  This 
is  the  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  in  all  time,  from 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN.  11 

the  beginning  of  the  world,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
has  illuminated  and  convinced  the  intellect  and  the 
conscience  of  men  to  know  God  and  themselves,  and 
thereby  to  understand  in  some  degree  the  nature  of 
sin.  But  the  fullness  of  that  light  and  illumination 
was  reserved  unto  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  came  in  person  to  dwell  forever  in  the 
Mystical  Body  of  Christ. 

In  the  beginning,  when  God  made  man,  He  made 
him  sinless,  and  He  gave  him  the  light  of  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  so  that  man  knew  God,  His  holiness  and  per- 
fections ;  and  he  knew  himself,  and  the  nature  in 
which  God  had  created  him.  He  knew  the  law  of 
God ;  but  he  did  not  know  sin,  because  as  yet  the  law 
had  not  been  broken.  He  could  not  know  it,  because 
he  had  as  yet  no  experience  of  the  transgression  of 
the  law,  with  its  bitterness  and  its  fatal  consequences ; 
but  when  man  sinned  against  God,  then  all  was 
changed.  Then  he  was  conscious  of  his  guilt,  and 
strove  to  hide  himself  from  the  face  of  his  Maker ; 
but  he  only  hid  God  from  his  own  conscience.  He 
could  not  escape  from  the  presence  nor  from  the  eye 
of  God ;  but  he  could  hide  the  light  of  God's  presence 
from  himself — and  this  he  did.  Therefore,  from  the 
beginning  of  time,  God  in  His  mercy,  by  the  working 
and  the  light  of  His  Spirit,  taught  men  to  know,  in 
some  measure  at  least,  His  own  perfections  and  their 


12  THE   NATURE    OF    SEST. 

own  sinfulness ;  but  it  was  only  like  the  twilight  pre- 
ceding the  noonday.  We  are  in  the  noonday  ;  and 
if  in  the  noonday  we  are  blind  to  the  perfections  of 
God  and  to  our  own  sinfulness,  woe  to  us  in  the  day 
of  judgment. 

Therefore,  my  purpose  is  to  begin  by  the  most 
general  outline  of  what  sin  is,  and  to  lay  down  cer- 
tain broad  but  simple  principles  which  I  shall  have 
to  apply  hereafter  iii  our  future  subjects.  I  there- 
fore purpose  first  to  speak  of  the  nature  of  sin,  of 
what  it  is,  and  of  certain  distinctions  of  sin,  which 
will  be  necessary  for  us  hereafter  to  refer  to. 

I.  First,  then,  what  is  sin  ?  There  are  many  defi- 
nitions of  it,  and  one  is  this  :  it  is  the  transgression 
of  the  law.  "  Sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law."  * 
God  is  a  law  to  Himself ;  His  perfections  are  the  law 
of  His  own  nature ;  and  God  wrote  upon  the  con- 
science of  man,  even  in  the  state  of  nature,  the  outline 
of  His  own  perfections.  He  made  man  to  know  right 
from  wrong ;  He  made  him  to  understand  the  nature 
of  purity,  justice,  truth  and  mercy.  These  are  per- 
fections of  God,  and  on  the  conscience  of  man  the 
obligations  of  this  law  are  written.  Every  man,  born 
into  the  world  in  a  state  of  nature,  has  this  outline 
of  God's  law  written  upon  him,  and  sin  is  the  trans- 
gression of  that  law.  Another  definition  of  sin  is : 
*  1  St.  John  iii.  4. 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIM".  13 

any  thought,  word,  or  deed  contrary  to  the  will  of 
God.  Now,  the  will  of  God  is  the  perfection  of 
God  Himself — holy,  just,  pure,  merciful,  true ;  and 
anything  contrary  to  these  perfections  in  thought, 
word,  or  deed  is  sin.  The  conformity  of  man  to 
the  will  of  God,  to  the  perfections  of  God,  is  the 
sanctity  or  the  perfection  of  the  human  soul ;  and 
the  more  he  is  conformed  to  the  will  of  God,  the 
holier  and  more  perfect  he  is.  Therefore,  to  be 
at  variance  with  God  is  to  be  deformed ;  and  the 
monstrous  deformity  of  the  human  frame  is  not 
more  humbling  nor  more  hideous — nay,  it  is  not 
humbling  and  hideous  compared  with  the  deformity 
of  the  soul.  When  the  soul  is  unlike  to  God,  when 
it  is  departed  from  the  perfection  of  God,  when  in- 
stead of  purity  there  is  impurity,  instead  of  justice 
there  is  injustice,  instead  of  truth  there  is  falsehood, 
instead  of  mercy  there  is  cruelty,  instead  of  the  per- 
fections of  God  there  is  the  direct  contrary  of  those 
perfections,  no  deformity  or  hideousness  that  can 
strike  the  eye  is  so  terrible. 

The  malice,  then,  of  sin  consists  in  this,  that  it  is  a 
created  will  in  conscious  variance  with  the  uncreated 
will  of  God.  God  made  us  to  His  own  image  and 
to  His  own  likeness ;  He  gave  us  all  that  He  could 
bestow  upon  us.  He  could  not  bestow  upon  us  His 
own  nature,  because  that  is  uncreated,  and  no  crea- 


14  THE   NATURE    OF    SIN. 

ture  can  partake  of  the  uncreated  nature  of  God ; 
but  God  could  bestow,  and  He  did  by  His  omnipo- 
tence with  His  mercy,  bestow  upon  us  His  likeness, 
His  image,  an  intelligence  and  a  will,  a  heart  and  a 
conscience,  so  that  we  become  intelligent  and  moral 
beings.  The  malice  of  sin  consists,  then,  in  this: 
that  an  intelligent  creature,  having  a  power  of  will, 
deliberately  and  consciously  opposes  the  will  of  its 
Maker.  The  malice  of  sin  is  essentially  internal  to 
the  soul.  The  external  action  wherebv  the  sinner 
perpetrates  his  sin  adds,  indeed,  an  accidental  malice 
and  an  accidental  increase  of  wickedness ;  but  the 
essence,  the  life  of  the  malice,  consists  in  the  state 
of  the  soul  itself.  We  see,  then,  that  sin  is  the  con- 
scious variation  of  our  moral  being  from  the  will  of 
God.  We  abuse  our  whole  nature,  we  abuse  our  in- 
tellect by  acting  irrationally,  in  violation  of  the  will 
of  God  which  is  written  upon  the  conscience ;  we 
abuse  our  will,  because  we  deliberately  abuse  the 
power  of  the  will,  whereby  we  originate  our  actions 
in  opposition  to  the  will  of  God  who  gave  it.  We 
apply  our  intellect  and  will,  with  our  eyes  open  and 
with  freedom  and  choice,  to  the  perpetration  of 
acts,  or  the  utterance  of  words,  or  the  harboring  of 
thoughts  which  are  known  to  be  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God;  and,  therefore,  in  every  sin  there  is  the 
knowledge  of  the  intellect  of  what  we  are  doing,  the 


s> 


THE   NATURE    OF    SIN.  15 

consent  of  the  will  in  doing  it,  and  the  consciousness 
of  the  mind  fixed  upon  the  action  with  two  objects 
before  it  —  the  law  and  the  Lawgiver — the  law  of 
God  known  to  us,  and  the  Giver  of  that  law,  who  is 
God  Himself  ;  so  that  we  deliberately,  with  onr  eyes 
open  and  of  our  own  free  will,  break  God's  law  in 
God's  face.  Now,  that  is  the  plain  definition  and 
description  of  sin ;  and  here  I  must,  for  a  moment, 
turn  aside  from  our  path. 

These  last  generations  have  become  fruitful  of  im- 
piety and  of  immorality  of  a  stupendous  kind ;  and 
among  other  of  their  impious  and  immoral  offspring 
is  a  pestilent  infidel  school,  who,  with  an  audacity 
never  before  known  in  the  Christian  world,  are  at 
this  time  assailing  the  foundations  of  human  society 
and  of  Divine  Law.  They  have  talked  of  late  of 
what  they  call  independent  morality.  And  what  do 
you  suppose  is  independent  morality  ?  It  means  the 
law  of  morals  separated  from  the  Lawgiver.  It  is  a 
proud  philosophical  claim  to  account  for  right  and 
wrong  without  reference  to  God,  who  is  the  Giver  of 
the  Law.  And  what  is  the  object  of  this  theory  ? 
It  is  to  get  rid  of  Christianity,  and  of  God,  and  of 
right  and  wrong  altogether,  and  to  resolve  all  moral- 
ity into  reason  ;  and  inasmuch  as,  it  tells  us,  the  dic- 
tates of  human  reason  are  variable  all  over  the  world, 
and  change  from  generation  to  generation,  this  Phil- 


16  THE   NATURE   OF    SIN. 

osophy  denies  and  destroys  the  foundations  of  moral- 
ity itself.  Now,  I  should  not  turn  aside  to  mention 
this  monster  of  immorality  and  impiety,  if  it  were 
not  that  at  this  time  there  is  an  effort  making  in 
England  to  introduce  under  a  veil  this  same  subtle 
denial  of  morals,  both  Christian  and  natural.  Only 
the  other  day  I  read  these  words  :  "  That  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people  it  is  not  possible,  indeed,  as 
things  are,  to*  teach  morality  without  teaching  doc- 
trine ;  because  the  English  people  are  so  accustomed 
to  associate  morality  and  doctrine  together,  that  they 
have  not  as  yet  learned  any  other  foundation  for 
morals."  God  forbid  they  ever  should  !  The  mean- 
ing of  this  is :  Teach  children  right  and  wrong,  but 
say  nothing  about  God,  nothing  about  the  Lawgiver ; 
teach  them  right  and  wrong  if  you  will,  but  nothing 
about  Jesus  Christ.  What  is  this  but  a  stupidity  as 
well  as  an  impiety !  For  morals  are  not  the  dead, 
blind,  senseless  relations  that  we  have  to  stocks  and 
stones,  but  the  relations  of  duty  and  of  obligation  we 
have  to  the  living  Lawgiver,  who  is  our  Maker  and 
Redeemer.  There  are  no  morals  excepting  in  the 
relations  between  God  and  man,  and  between  man 
and  man.  Morals  mean  the  relations  and  duties  of 
living  and  moral  agents ;  and  this  independent  mo- 
rality, this  morality  without  God  for  school-children, 
is  bottomless  impiety  if  ^it  be  not  the  stupidity  of  un- 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN.  17 

belief.  I  could  not  help  touching  this  in  passing, 
and  we  will  now  go  back  to  our  subject  once  more. 

II.  I  have  now  to  draw  two  distinctions  in  the 
nature  of  sin.  There  are  what  are  called  formal 
sins,  and  what  are  called  material  sins.  The  import- 
ance of  this  distinction  you  will  see  hereafter. 

1.  Now,  let  us  first  understand  what  is  a  formal 
sin.  It  means  a  sin  committed  with  a  full  know- 
ledge of  what  we  do,  and  a  full  consent  to  do  it ;  so 
that  in  proportion  as  men  have  light,  and  know  the 
law  and  the  Lawgiver,  in  that  proportion  the  sinful- 
ness of  their  disobedience  is  increased.  The  holy 
angels  were  created  by  God  in  the  full  knowledge 
and  light  of  His  presence ;  and  those  who  fell  from 
their  perfection  by  rebellion  were  formally  guilty,  in 
proportion  to  that  angelic  knowledge  which  left  them 
without  excuse.  All  those  who  possess  a  clear  light 
to  know  what  is  the  law,  and  yet  violate  that  law,  are 
guilty,  as  Peter  was  guilty  for  denying  his  Master, 
and  as  Judas  was  guilty  for  selling  Him  ;  both  were 
guilty  in  the  proportion  of  their  light.  Those  who, 
knowing  the  natural  law,  break  that  law,  are  guilty, 
because  the  law  is  written  upon  their  conscience. 
Those  who  break  the  Christian  law,  knowing  the 
Christian  faith,  in  the  proportion  of  their  light  are 
guiltier ;  and,  above  all  men,  those  who  have  the 
full  light  of  the  Catholic  faith,  if  they  break  the 


18  THE   NATURE    OF    SIN. 

laws  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  the  guiltiest  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  You  are  guilty  in  the  measure  in  which 
you  have  greater  light ;  in  the  measure  in  which  you 
have  a  fuller  illumination,  in  that  measure  your  guilt 
before  God  is  greater. 

Such  sins,  then,  are  formal,  when  committed  with 
full  light  and  consent.  Now,  what  are  material  sins  ? 
The  same  actions  done  without  sufficient  knowledge, 
or  without  intention.  Two  men  may  commit  the 
very  same  action,  and  the  one  be  guilty  before  God, 
and  the  other  not  guilty.  If,  in  the  dark,  I  think 
that  I  am  felling  a  tree,  and  with  my  axe  I  cut  down 
a  man,  I  am  not  a  murderer.  I  have  committed 
manslaughter  in  the  dark,  and  without  intention ; 
and  if  the  man  I  have  slain  be  my  own  father,  I  am 
not  a  parricide ;  yet  the  act  I  have  committed  is 
materially  an  act  of  murder  and  of  parricide.  The 
quality  of  sinfulness,  therefore,  is  purified,  and  taken 
away  from  the  action,  if  I  do  not  know  what  I  am 
about,  and  if  I  do  not  intend  it.  Our  Divine  Lord 
prayed  for  the  greatest  sin  that  was  ever  committed 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  in  these  words :  "  Father, 
forgive  them ;  they  know  not  what  they  do."  In 
His  Divine  compassion  He  prayed  for  His  crucifiers ; 
and  the  Apostle,  speaking  of  Him,  says :  "  Whom 
none  of  the  princes  of  this  world  knew :  for  had 
they  known  Him  they  would  not  have  crucified  the 


THE   NATURE   OF   SIN".  19 

Lord  of  Glory."  That  is  to  say,  among  the  multi- 
tude, perhaps  the  greater  number  did  not  know  what 
they*  did,  and  that  Divine  prayer  of  compassion  re- 
veals a  law  of  God's  equity  and  pity  upon  the  igno- 
rant. 

Nevertheless,  those  who  know,  or  have  it  in  their 
power  to  know,  are  guilty ;  for  we  are  responsible 
not  only  for  all  that  we  do  know,  but  for  all  that  we 
might  know,  and  therefore  ought  to  know. 

This  is  what  you  hear  of  as  vincible  or  invincible 
ignorance.  Ignorance  takes  away  the  guilt  of  our 
actions  if  that  ignorance  be  invincible,  for  then  we 
cannot  overcome  it.  If  we  could  not  know  any  bet- 
ter, then  God  in  His  infinite  mercy,  though  we  have 
committed  a  material  sin,  will  not  take  account 
with  us  as  if  it  were  a  formal  sin.  But  there  is 
another  kind  of  ignorance  which  is  called  vincible, 
because  it  may  be  overcome  if  We  use  the  proper 
diligence  to  know ;  and  God  has  put  within  our 
reach  the  means  of  knowledge  sufficient  if  we  will 
diligently  seek  it.  Now  let  me  apply  these  prin- 
ciples. 

First.  In  the  East  there  are  Churches  which  once 
were  in  communion  with  the  Catholic  Church,  but 
have  been  for  ages  separated  from  it ;  and  among 
those  Churches  some  have  fallen  from  the  Catholic 
faith,  in  respect  to  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  Incarna- 


20  THE   NATUKE    OF   SIN. 

tion.  Generation  after  generation,  millions  have  been 
born  into  that  state ;  they  never  knew  the  perfect 
truth ;  they  never  were  in  the  nnity  of  the  One  Church. 
They  believe  that  God  has  revealed  Himself  in 
Christianity,  and  they  believe  the  doctrines  they  have 
been  taught  from  their  childhood  to  be  that  revela- 
tion. They  believe  God  has  a  Church  upon  earth, 
and  they  believe  the  Church  in  which  they  find  them- 
selves to  be  that  Church  of  God ;  and  the  simple, 
the  unlearned,  and  those  who  have  not  the  means  of 
knowing  better — we  have  every  reason  before  God 
to  believe  in  their  good  faith — live  and  die,  and  God 
in  His  mercy- — we  may  also  hope — does  not  take 
account  of  them,  as  if  they  had  the  formal  light  to 
know  the  perfect  truth.     But  to  come  nearer  home. 

It  is  to  me  a  consolation  and  joy — I  say  it  again 
and  again,  and  more  strongly  as  I  grow  older — to 
know  that  in  the  last  three  hundred  years  multitudes 
of  our  own  countrymen,  who  have  been  born  out  of 
the  unity  of  the  Faith,  nevertheless  believe  in  good 
faith  with  all  their  hearts  that  God  has  revealed 
Himself  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  what  they  have 
been  taught  from  their  childhood  is  His  revelation, 
and  that  He  has  founded  upon  earth  a  Church,  and 
that  the  Church,  which  in  their  baptismal  creed  they 
call  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  is  the  Church  in 
which  they  themselves  have  been  baptized,  reared, 


THE   NATURE    OF    SIN.  21 

and  instructed.  It  is  my  consolation  to  believe  that 
multitudes  of  such  persons  are  in  good  faith,  and 
that  God  in  His  mercy  will  make  allowance  for  them, 
knowing  what  are  the  prejudices  of  childhood,  of  an 
education  studiously  erroneous,  what  is  the  power 
and  influence  of  parents  and  of  teachers,  of  public 
authority,  and  of  public  opinion,  and  of  public  law : 
how  all  these  things  create  in  their  minds  a  convic- 
tion that  they  are  in  the  right,  that  they  believe  the 
one  Faith,  and  are  in  the  one  Church,  in  which  alone 
is  salvation.  We  rejoice  to  commend  them  to  the 
love  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  believing  that  though 
they  may  be  materially  in  error,  and  in  many  things 
materially  in  opposition  to  His  truth  and  to  His  will, 
yet  they  do  not  know,  and,  morally  speaking,  many 
cannot  know  it,  and  that  therefore  He  will  not  re- 
quire it  at  their  hands. 

2.  This,  then,  is  the  first  distinction  of  sin,  into 
formal  and  material  sin  ;  yet  I  must  draw  one  more, 
and  that  is  between  original  sin  and  actual  sin. 
What  is  original  sin  ?  It  is  the  transgression  of  the 
law  in  the  head  of  the  human  race,  whereby  all  who 
are  born  are  sinners  before  God,  and  born  into  a 
state  of  privation.  The  transgression  of  the  law  in 
our  head  is  our  sin,  because,  when  God  created  man, 
He  created  mankind.  In  that  man  the  whole  race  of 
mankind  was  contained.     Mankind  springs  from  one 


22  THE   NATUKE   OF    SIN. 

head,  and  that  head  was  the  heir  to  all  the  benedic- 
tions of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  onr  behalf :  onr  in- 
heritance was  contained  in  him.  If  he  had  stood 
from  him,  we  should  have  inherited  the  kingdom  of 
God  ;  he  fell,  and  by  his  fall  disinherited  the  race  of 
mankind.  '  We  hear  men  of  this  day  say :  "  What 
can  be  more  absurd  than  to  believe  that  the  human 
race  fell  because  Adam  ate  an  apple  ? "  I  put  the 
words  with  all  the  bald  impertinence  of  the  world. 
Let  us  see  now  whether  the  ways  of  God  need  justi- 
fication. God  created  Adam,  and  placed  him  in 
Paradise  in  the  midst  of  a  garden.  He  gave  him  a 
dominion  over  every  tree  of  that  garden,  except  one 
only.  Such  was  the  generosity  of  God.  He  did  not 
say  :  "  Thou  mayest  eat  of  the  fruit  of  that  one  tree, 
but  of  the  ten  thousand  other  fruit-bearing  trees  of 
the  garden  thou  shalt  not  eat ;  and  in  whatsoever 
day  thou  eatest  of  them  thou  shalt  die  the  death." 
God  did  not,  with  the  parsimony  of  a  human  heart, 
give  Adam  permission  to  eat  of  one  tree,  and  forbid 
him  ten  thousand.  No.  He  gave  him  free  permis- 
sion to  eat  of  ten  thousand,  and  forbade  him  to  eat 
of  one  alone.  Was  there  anything  unreasonable  in 
1  this  ?  Was  it  not  what  you  would  do  if  you  had  the 
will  to  try  the  obedience  of  any  one  %  Was  it  not 
what  you  would  do,  and  what  men  do  at  this  day, 
when  out  of  liberality  they  lease  their  lands  upon 


THE   NATURE   OF   SIN.  23 

what  is  called  a  peppercorn  rent  ?  When  the  world 
speaks  impertinently,  I  may  answer  the  world  in  its 
own  tongue.  The  landlord  who  leases  out  his  estate, 
taking  only  a  nominal  acknowledgment,  is  com- 
mended by  all  men  as  generous,  large-hearted,  noble- 
minded.  He  acts  as  a  friend,  without  self-interest, 
when  he  intrusts  to  another  man  the  enjoyment  and 
enrichment  which  arise  from  his  estates,  upon  the 
mere  acknowledgment  that,  after  all,  they  belong  to 
him.  He  is  only  reserving  his  right.  Now  what 
did  Almighty  Grod  in  that  commandment  do  ?  He 
reserved  His  right  as  Sovereign — He  reserved  His  ' 
right  over  the  obedience  of  the  man  whom  He  had 
created.  He  thereby  revealed  that  He  had  jurisdic- 
tion over  that  garden,  and  over  the  man  to  whom  He 
had  permitted  its  free  enjoyment.  He  put  him  upon 
trial — it  was  the  test  of  his  fidelity.  More  than  this  : 
it  was  a  test  so  slight,  that  I  may  say  there  was  no 
temptation  to  break  the  law.  If  he  had  been,  for- 
bidden to  eat  of  all  the  trees  of  the  garden,  save  one, 
he  would  have  been  tempted  at  every  turn.  Every 
tree  he  gazed  upon  would  have  been  a  fresh  tempta- 
tion ;  he  would  have  been  followed  and  haunted  by 
temptation  wherever  he  went.  God  did  not  deal  so 
with  him — He  forbade  him  one,  and  one  alone  ;  so 
that  he  had  perfect  liberty  to  go,  to  and  fro,  gather- 
ing from  the  whole  garden,  except  from  that  one 


24  THE   NATURE   OF    SIN. 

tree.  Where,  then,  was  the  temptation  ?  As  on 
God's  part  there  was  Divine  generosity,  so  on  man's 
part  there  was  the  wantonness  of  transgression.  It 
may,  indeed,  be  my  defect,  but  I  can  see  nothing  in 
this  that  is  not  consonant  with  Divine  wisdom,  Divine 
goodness,  Divine  sovereignty,  and  Divine  mercy.  I 
see  nothing  to  warrant  the  impertinence  of  the  world. 
Well,  this  law  was  slight,  and  without  any  tempta- 
tion whatsoever  Adam  transgressed  it.  He  held  the 
enjoyment  of  his  perfection,  and  of  the  promise  of 
eternal  life,  and  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  upon  the 
payment,  as  I  said  before,  of  that  quit  rent,  of  that 
mere  acknowledgment  of  the  sovereignty  of  his 
Maker,  and  even  to  this  he  would  not  submit. 

What,  then,  was  the  consequence  ?  Man,  as  God 
made  him,  had  three  perfections.  First,  he  was  per- 
fect in  body  and  soul.  Secondly,  he  had  the  higher 
perfection  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  his  heart, 
whereby  his  soul  was  ordered  and  sanctified,  and  the 
passions  were  held  in  perfect  subjection  to  the  reason 
and  the  will.  Thirdly,  he  had  a  perfection  arising 
from  that  higher  perfection,  namely,  immortality  in 
the  body  and  perfect  integrity  in  the  soul.  So  that 
he  had  these  three  perfections  :  a  natural  perfection 
in  body  and  soul,  a  supernatural  perfection  by  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  a  preternatural 
perfection  of  immortality ;  and  all  these  by  one  act 


THE   NATTTEE  OF   SIN.  25 

of  disobedience  lie  lost.  When  he  sinned,  the  spirit 
of  God  departed  from  him,  his  soul  died  because  it 
was  separated  from  God,  his  immortality  was  for- 
feited, the  integrity  or  harmony  of  the  soul  was  lost 
likewise,  the  passions  rebelled,  the  will  was  weakened, 
the  intellect  became  confused,  and  the  nature  of  man 
was  deprived  of  its  supernatural  perfection  and  of  all 
that  follows  from  it.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the 
words,  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
die  the  death."  It  was  spiritual' and  temporal  death, 
followed,  except  on  repentance,  by  eternal  death 
hereafter. 

We  see,  then,  the  meaning  of  original  sin  in  us. 
It  is  that  we,  being  born  of  that  forefather,  are  born 
disinherited  of  these  three  perfections  which  we  lost 
in  him  by  his  disobedience.  We  are  born  into  this 
world  without  the  Spirit  of  God ;  we  receive  it  in 
our  baptism,  which  is  our  second  birth.  By  our  first 
birth  "  that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh."  We 
have  the  three  "wounds,"  as  they  are  called,  of 
Adam — ignorance  in  the  intellect,  weakness  in  the 
will,  and  turbulence  in  the  passions.  This  is  the 
state  in  which  we  are  born  into  this  world,  and  there- 
fore we  are  spiritually  dead  before  God.  I  see  in 
this,  as  I  said  before,  nothing  but  Divine  wisdom : 
and  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children.     And  here  I 

wish  to  answer  what  may  perhaps  rise  in  the  minds 

2 


26  THE  NATURE   OF   SIN. 

of  some  of  you  concerning  infants  that  die  before 
baptism.  Sometimes  people  say,  "  How  can  I  be- 
lieve that  those  infants  who  die  before  baptism, 
through  no  fault  of  their  own,  should  go  to  eternal 
torment  ? "  God  forbid.  Infants  that  die  with 
original  sin  only — never  having  committed  an  actual 
sin — who  believes  that  they  descend  into  a  place  of 
torment  ?  Their  eternal  state  is  a  state  of  happiness, 
though  it  be  not  in  the  Yision  of  God  :  for  we  know 
of  no  way  in  which  any  human  soul  can  see  the 
Yision  of  God,  except  by  regeneration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Without  receiving  the  grace  of  *  holy  baptism, 
the  soul  is  not  in  the  supernatural  order ;  and  of 
those  who  die  in  the  natural  order,  we  are  unable  to 
affirm  that  the  grace  which  belongs  to  the  supernat- 
ural order  is  extended,  and  that,  because  for  this  we 
have  no  revelation.  It  is,  however,  certain  that  the 
privation  attached  to  original  sin  carries  with  it 
nothing  which  the  world,  sometimes  contradicting 
the  Christian  faith  for  the  purpose  of  maligning  it, 
most  unreasonably  says  against  it.  But  though 
original  sin  is  only  punished  by  privation,  every 
actual  sin  will  be  punished  by  actual  pain.  There  is 
the  pain  of  loss  which  follows  original  sin;  there 
is  the  pain  of  sense  which  follows  actual  sin ;  and 
every  actual  sin  that  men  commit  will  be  punished 


THE   NATURE   OF    SEN".  27 

by  pain,  either  temporal  or  eternal,  for  pain  follows 
sin  as  the  shadow  follows  the  substance. 

Lastly,  we  come  to  actual  sin.  What  is  it  ?  Let  us 
recall  the  principles  with  which  I  began.  Actual  sin 
is  the  conscious  variance  of  a  creature  to  the  known 
will  of  its  Creator ;  and  that  conscious  variance  in- 1 
eludes  the  light  of  the  intellect,  and  the  consent  of 
the  will,  and  the  knowledge  and  intention  of  what 
we  are  doing.  The  essential  malice  of  sin  is  in  the 
will :  and  there  is  a  threefold  malice  in  every  actual 
sin  committed  by  a  Christian.  First,  there  is  a 
malice  against  God  the  Father,  who  made  man  to 
His  image  and  likeness,  that  He  might  be  the  object 
of  his  love ;  that  he  might  love  Him,  know  Him, 
serve  Him,  worship  Him,  be  conformed  to  Him,  and 
dwell  with  Him  in  eternity.  The  Christian  who  sins 
against  God  sins  against  his  Creator,  and  worships 
the  creature  more  than  the  Creator ;  that  is  to  say, 
worships  the  world,  his  pleasures,  himself.  Self- 
worship  he  puts  in  the  place  of  the  worship  of  God, 
and  in  that  he  does  an  infinite  offence — infinite, 
though  he  be  finite — because  the  Person  against 
whom  that  offence  is  committed  is  an  infinite  God.  * 
Secondly,  there  is  a  malice  against  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Redeemer-  of  the  world.  The  Apostle 
says  every  sinner  is  "  an  enemy  of  the  Cross  of 
Christ."     He   says,  "  They  that  do   such  things,  I 


28  THE   NATUEE   OF    SIN. 

have  told  you  often,  and  now  again  tell  yon  weeping, 
that  they  are  enemies  of  the  Cross  of  Christ."  *  And 
why  ?  Because  Jesus  Christ  suffered  on  the  Cross 
for  those  very  sins  which  such  men  commit.  The 
sinner  nails  Him  on  the  Cross  once  more.  The  nails 
and  the  hammer  were  but  the  material  instruments 
of  crucifixion ;  the  moral  cause  of  the  crucifixion  of 
the  Son  of  God  was  the  sin  which  you  and  I  have 
committed ;  and  if  we  commit  such  sins  again,  we 
deliberately  renew  the  causes  which  nailed  Him  on 
the  Cross.  Again,  the  Apostle  says,  "  If  those  who 
despised  the  law  of  Moses  were  condemned,  of  how 
much  severer  punishment  shall  he  be  thought  worthy 
who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and 
put  Him  to  open  shame,  and  counted  the  Blood  of 
the  Testament,  whereby  he  was  sanctified,  unclean ; 
and  hath  done  this  in  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  Grace  !  "f 
The  Christian  who  deliberately  commits  sin  wounds 
our  Divine  Saviour.  He  opens  those  Five  Sacred 
Wounds,  majdng  them  bleed  afresh.  With  a  cold 
and  ungrateful  heart  he  renews  the  sorrows  which 
caused  the  agony  of  Gethsemane,  and  made  Him 
sweat  His  Sweat  of  Blood.  Not  this  only ;  but, 
thirdly,  there  is  a  malice  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Every  sin  that  is  committed,  is  committed  against 
the  light  and  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  con- 
*  Phil.  iii.  18.  t  Heb.  x.  29. 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN.  29 

science  ;  and  in  this  there  are  three  degrees.  "We 
may  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  may  resist  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  we  may  quench  the  Holy  Ghost.  Our 
Divine  Lord  has  said,  "Every  sin  and  every  blas- 
phemy shall  be  forgiven  unto  men,  except  the 
blasphemy  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  if  any  man  shall 
speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of  Man,  it  shall  be  for- 
given him  ;  but  whosoever  speaketh  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  never  be  forgiven  him  in  this 
world  nor  in  the  world  to  come."*  Now  what  is  the 
meaning  of  this  ?  A  man  may  speak  against  Jesus 
Christ,  ay,  blaspheme  his  Lord,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
convincing  him  of  sin,  may  bring  him  to  repentance, 
may  convert  him  to  God,  and  his  soul  may  be  saved ; 
but  any  man  who  blasphemes  the  Holy  Ghost — Who 
is  the  Spirit  of  Penance,  the  Spirit  of  Absolution, 
the  Absolver  of  the  penitent — rejects  the  whole  dis- 
pensation of  grace  ;  and,  therefore,  the  sin  that  shall 
never  be  forgiven  is  the  sin  of  impenitence.  Every 
sin  that  men  repent  of  shall  be  forgiven  ;  but  the  sin 
that  is  not  repented  of  shall  never  be  forgiven,  neither 
in  this  world,  nor  in  the  world  to  come. 

In  giving  these  definitions,  I  am  afraid  that  what 

I  have  said  is  somewhat  abstract,  perhaps  somewhat 

tedious ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  make  clear 

what  I  have  to  say  hereafter,  without  laying  down 

*  St.  Matt.  xii.  31. 


30  THE   NATUKE    OF    SIN. 

first  principles.  I  will  now,  therefore,  only  make 
application  of  what  I  have  said.  We  have  here  two 
practical  principles. 

1.  The  first  is  this  :  no  one  is  so  blind  to  his  own 
sins  as  the  man  who  has  most  sin  upon  him.  If  a 
man  is  plague-stricken,  he  can  see  it  by  the  discolora- 
tion of  the  skin.  If  the  scales  of  leprosy  are  coming 
up  upon  his  arm,  he  can  tell  that  he  is  a  leper.  If  a 
cloud  is  growing  over  the  pupil  of  the  eye,  he  can 
tell  that  he  is  losing  the  light  of  heaven.  All  the 
diseases  of  the  body  make  themselves  known  em- 
phatically ;  but  it  is  the  subtilty  and  danger  and 
deadliness  of  sin  that  it  conceals  itself.  No  men 
know  the  light  of  God's  presence  so  little  as  those 
who  are  covered  with  sin ;  and  the  more  sin  they 
have  upon  them  the  less  they  can  see  it.  Though  all 
the  perfections  of  God,  like  the  rays  of  the  sun 
which  encircle  the  head  of  the  blind  man,  are  round 
about  them  all  the  day  long,  they  are  unconscious  of 
His  presence.  They  are  like  Elymas,  the  magician, 
who,  for  his  impiety,  had  scales  upon  his  eyes ;  and 
because  they  do  not  see  the  light  of  God,  therefore 
they  do  not  see  His  perfections,  and  therefore  they 
do  not  see  themselves ;  for  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  self  comes  from  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  God.  How  shall  a  man  know  what  unholiness  is, 
if  he  does  not  know  what  holiness  is  %    How  shall 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN".  31 

lie  know  what  falsehood  is,  if  he  does  not  know 
what  truth  is ;  or  impurity,  if  he  does  not  know 
purity :  or  impiety,  if  he  does  not  know  the  duty 
we  owe  to  God,  and  the  majesty  of  God,  to  whom 
worship  is  due  ?  Just  in  the  proportion  in  which  the 
light  of  the  perfections  of  God  is  clouded,  we  lose 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  ourselves ;  and  the 
end  of  it  is  that  when  men  hear  snch  words  as  I  am 
speaking  now,  they  say,  "  That  is  just  the  character 
of  my  neighbor — that  is  the  very  picture  of  my 
brother : "  they  do  not  see  themselves  in  the  glass. 
You  may  describe  their  character,  and  they  will  not 
recognize  it ;  you  may  tell  them,  "  This  is  yourself," 
and  they  will  not  believe  it.  There  is  something 
within  them  which  darkens  the  conscience ;  and  why 
is  it  ?  Because  sin  stupefies  the  intellect  and  the 
heart :  it  draws  a  veil  and  a  mist  over  the  brightness 
of  the  intelligence,  and  it  darkens  the  light  of  the 
conscience.  Sin  is  like  hemlock :  it  deadens  the 
sense,  so  that  the  spiritual  eye  begins  to  close,  and 
the  spiritual  ear  becomes  heavy,  and  the  heart  grows 
drowsy.  And  when  men  have  brought  themselves 
to  that  state  by  their  own  free  will,  then  comes  the 
just  judgment  of  God  :  "  I  will  give  them  eyes  that 
they  may  not  see,  ears  that  they  may  not  hear, 
hearts  that  they  may  not  understand,  lest  they 
should  be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them.    These 


32  THE  NATURE   OF   SIN. 

» 

things  said  Isaias,  when  he  saw  His  glory  and  spoke 
of  Him."* 

2.  There  is  one  other  truth — that  no  men  see  the 
nature  of  sin  so  clearly  as  those  who  are  freest  from 
sin  ;  just  as  no  intelligence  knows  sin  with  such  an 
intensity  of  knowledge  as  God  Himself.  Our  Divine 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  sinless  Son  of  God,  knew  sin 
in  all  its  hatefulness  so  as  no  other  human  heart  has 
ever  known  it.  His  Immaculate  Mother — because 
sinless — knew  the  sinfulness  of  sin  by  the  light  of 
her  intelligence,  and  by  a  pure  horror  of  her  whole 
spiritual  nature.  So  in  like  manner  the  Saints  of 
God,  each  one  of  them  in  the  proportion  of  his 
sanctity ;  and  so  you  likewise,  in  the  measure  in 
which  you  are  free  from  sin,  in  that  measure  will  you 
hate  it,  in  that  measure  you  understand  and  estimate 
its  sinfulness.  And  if  at  any  time  in  your  life  you 
have  committed  sin — in  the  measure  in  which  you 
are  separated  from  your  past  life,  in  the  measure  in 
which  that  old  character  of  yours  has  been  taken  off, 
and  you  can  see  "the  old  man"  which  you  have 
sloughed  off,  that  old  being  and  nature  of  yours 
which  cleaves  to  you  no  longer,  which  you  look  on 
as  a  thing  hideous  and  horrible,  belonging  to  you  no 
more,  belonging  to  your  childhood,  boyhood,  or 
youth,  but  yours  no  longer  now — in  that  measure 

*  St.  John  xii.  40,  41. 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN.  33 

you  understand  the  sinfulness  of  sin.  You  can  look 
back  on  your  past  life,  and  understand  your  sins  as 
you  did  not  understand  them  then ;  and  when  you 
come  to  die,  your  present  character  and  your  present 
life  will  be  seen  by  you  in  a  light,  brighter  and  more 
intense  than  that  under  which  you  see  them  now. 
Look  up,  therefore,  into  the  light  of  God's  presence, 
and  pray  God  to  make  you  to  know  yourselves  as  He 
knows  you,  and  to  see  yourselves  as  He  sees  you 
now ;  for  when  you  have  seen  the  worst  of  your 
sins,  what  are  they,  compared  with  those  which  God 
sees  in  you  ?  Therefore,  do  not  let  us  ever  think 
that  we  know  all  our  sins ;  yet  do  not  let  us  imagine 
that  we  fully  know  our  own  sinfulness.  We  are 
only  beginning  to  learn  it,  and  we  shall  have  to  learn 
it  all  our  life.  There  are  three  great  depths  which 
no  human  line  can  sound — the  depth  of  our  sinful- 
ness, the  depth  of  our  unworthiness,  and  the  depth 
of  our  nothingness.  If  you  are  beginning  to  learn 
those  three  things,  happy  are  you.  Be  not  afraid, 
the  more  you  see  your  own  sinfulness ;  and  for  this 
reason.  "Who  is  showing  it  to  you  ?  It  is  the  light 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  He  Who  alone  searches 
the  heart,  Who  alone  makes  us  know  ourselves  ;  and 
the  more  you  see  of  your  own  sinfulness,  the  truer 
pledge  you  have  of  His  presence  ;  that  He  is  with 
you,  that  He  is  within  you,  that  He  is  busied  about 
2* 


34  THE   NATUKE   OF    SIN. 

your  salvation.  He  is  giving  yon  a  pledge  and  a 
promise  that  every  sin  yon  see  He  will  help  you  to 
repent  of,  and  every  sin  you  repent  of-  shall  be 
washed  away  in  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Therefore,  one  last  word.  My  first  counsel  to  you 
in  this  Lent  is  this :  Try  to  know  yourselves,  try  to 
learn  during  these  days  such  knowledge  of  yourselves 
as  you  have  never  had  before.  Begin  as  if  it  were 
for  the  first  time.  Take  the  ten  commandments : 
read  them  in  the  letter :  understand  them*  in  the 
spirit ;  and  try  your  life  from  your  childhood,  from 
your  earliest  memory,  by  that  Divine  rule.  Take 
the  seven  deadly  sins,  try  yourselves  by  them,  in 
deed,  in  word,  and  in  thought.  Pray  to  the  Spirit 
of  God,  whose  work  and  office  it  is  to  convince  the 
world  of  sin.  Pray  every  day  in  this  Lent,  morning 
and  night,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  may  illuminate 
your  reason  to  understand  the  nature  of  sin,  and 
convince  your  conscience,  that  you  may  know  what 
sins  are  upon  you.  Pray  to  Him  that  the  light  of 
the  presence  of  God  may  come  down  upon  you  like 
the  light  of  the  noonday,  that  you  may  see  not  only 
the  broad  outlines  of  your  sins,  but  your  finer  and 
more  delicate  and  more  subtle  offences  against  God, 
even  as  we  see  the  motes  which  float  in  the  sunbeam 
at  noonday.  The  more  you  have  the  presence  of 
God  with  you,  the  more  the  light  of  His  perfections 


THE   NATURE   OF    SIN.  35 

is  upon  you,  the  more  you  will  see  yourselves.  The 
Patriarch  Job,  who,  though  he  had  long  lived  in 
prayer,  in  converse,  and  in  communion  with  God, 
and  had  been  grievously  afflicted  (which  more  than 
any  other  discipline  brings  men  to  know  themselves), 
nevertheless,  at  the  end  of  all  his  trials,  when  God 
spoke  to  him  out  of  the  light  of  His  presence,  said  : 
"  With  the  hearing  of  the  ear  I  have  heard  Thee, 
but  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee ;  wherefore  I  condemn 
myself,  and  do  penance  in  dust  and  ashes."  * 

*  Job  xlii.  5,  6. 


II. 


MORTAL    SIN 


MORTAL    SIN". 


If  any  man  shall  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto 
death,  he  shall  ask,  and  life  shall  be  given  unto  him  that  sinneth 
not  unto  death.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death :  I  do  not  say  for  that 
any  man  shall  ask.  All  iniquity  is  sin,  and  there  is  a  sin  unto 
death.— 1  St.  John  v.  16, 17. 

From  the  written  "Word  of  God  it  is  clear,  beyond 
controversy,  that  some  sins  are  unto  death,  and  some 
sins  are  not  unto  death.  That  is  to  say,  that  some 
sins  are  mortal,  and  some  sins  are  not  mortal. 

Our  next  subject,  as  I  said,  is  mortal  sin.  But  be- 
fore I  enter  upon  it,  I  wish  to  recall  to  your  memo- 
ries the  general  principles  already  laid  down.  First, 
we  know  that  the  end  of  man  is  God ;  that  God  made 
man  for  Himself ;  that  He  made  him  to  His  own 
likeness ;  that  He  made  him  capable  of  knowing, 
loving,  and  serving  Him,  and  of  being  like  to  God ; 
'  and  that  in  the  knowledge,  the  love,  and  the  service, 
and  the  likeness  of  God,  is  the  bliss  of  man.  There- 
fore, conformity  to  God  is  our  perfection,  and  union 
with  God  is  eternal  life  ;  but  deformity,  or  departure 

(39) 


40  MORTAL   SIN. 

from  the  likeness  of  God,  is  sin,  and  separation  from 
God  is  eternal  death.  The  nature  of  sin  is,  as  we 
have  defined  it,  the  transgression  of  the  law  of  God ; 
or,  in  other  words,  any  thought,  word,  or  deed  delib- 
erately committed  with  the  knowledge  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  the  consent  of  the  will,  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God ;  or,  in  other  words  again,  it  is  the  variance 
of  the  created  will  against  the  uncreated  will — of  the 
will  of  the  creature  against  the  will  of  the  Creator. 
The  essential  malice  of  sin,  then,  consists  in  the 
variance  of  the  will,  the  hostility  of  the  will  of  the 
creature  against  the  will  of  his  Maker.  These  were 
the  principles  which  I  laid  down  last  time.  We  will 
now  take  them  up  again,  and  make  application  of 
them  in  one  particular  point. 

St.  John,  in  the  words  with  which  I  began,  tells 
us  that  if  any  man  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is 
not  unto  death,  he  ought  to  pray  for  him.  Now, 
what  are  the  sins  that  are  not  unto  death  ?  Sins  of 
infirmity  ;  sins  of  impetuosity  ;  sins  of  strong  tempt- 
ation ;  sins  which  by  the  subtlety  of  Satan  lead  men 
astray ;  sins  of  passion,  in  which  human  nature,  be- 
ing weak  and  tempestuous,  and  liable  to  disorder,  is 
drawn  aside :  if  in  all  these  there  be  no  malice,  either 
against  God,  or  against  our  neighbor.  Now,  these 
are  sins  which  all  Christians  are  liable  to  commit,  and 
do  commit,  and  which,  without  doubt,  you  yourselves 


MORTAL    SIN.  41 

are  profoundly  conscious  of  committing.  These  are 
sins  not  unto  death,  as  we  may  trust,  because,  if  there 
be  no  malice  against  God  or  our  neighbor,  then  the 
essential  sinfulness  of  sin  is  wanting ;  and  in  that 
case,  St.  John  says,  "  Let  him  pray  for  him,  and  God 
will  give  life  unto  those  that  sin  not  unto  death ;" 
that  is  to  say,  He  will  give  grace,  sorrow,  pardon, 
help,  protection,  and  perseverance.  He  will  watch 
over  those  souls  if  in  humility  and  in  sorrow  they 
persevere  ;  and  the  prayer  of  those  who  are  faithful 
and  steadfast  will  obtain  grace  for  those  that  sin  not 
unto  death.  Then  he  goes  on  :  "  There  is  a  sin  unto 
death  :  for  that  I  say  not  that  any  man  should  ask  ;" 
that  is,  that  any  man  should  pray.  Now,  what  is 
this  sin  unto  death.  The  sin  of  Judas  was  a  sin 
unto  death  %  With  his  eyes  open,  with  a  knowledge 
of  his  Master, — though,  perhaps,  he  did  not  know  of 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  as  we  know  it  now  ; 
nevertheless  he  knew  enough, — he  sold  his  Master, 
and  yet,  perhaps,  not  knowing  that  he  sold  Him  to 
be  crucified.  This,  then,  was  a  sin  unto  death.  The 
sin  of  Simon  Magus  was  a  blasphemy  and  a  sin  unto 
death.  The  sin  of  those  that  blaspheme  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  shall  never  be  forgiven,  is  a  sin  unto 
death.  The  sin  of  apostates  from  the  faith,  who, 
having  known  the  truth,  and  having  had  the  full 
light  and  illumination  to  know  God,  afterwards  fall 


42  MORTAL    SIN. 

from  Him,  is  described  by  St.  Paul  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  where  he  says,  "It  is  impossible  for 
those  who  have  been  once  enlightened,  and  have 
tasted  of  the  Heavenly  Gift,  and  of  the  good  Word 
of  God,  and  of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  if 
they  shall  fall  away,  to  be  renewed  again  unto  re- 
pentance."*  In  one  word,  all  who  are  impenitent 
sin  nnto  death.  All  those  who,  having  had  full  light 
and  knowledge  of  God  in  His  revelation,  with  their 
eyes  open,  turn  from  it,  of  whom  St.  John  says, 
"  They  went  out  from  us  because  they  were  not  of 
us ;  for  if  they  had  been  of  us,  without  doubt  they 
would  have  continued  with  us  "f — all  these  who  so 
sin,  sin  unto  death,  and  are  left  to  the  judgment  of 
God.  St.  John  in  these  words  does  not  forbid  us  to 
pray  ;  he  says,  "  I  do  not  say  " — that  is,  "  I  do  not 
enjoin  it."  He  leaves  it  to  the  conscience  of  every 
man.  He  says  of  those  who  sin  not  unto  death,  that 
"  we  have  all  confidence  we  may  obtain  pardon  and 
grace  for  them  ;"  but  for  those  who  do  sin  unto  death 
as  I  have  described,  "we  have  no  such  confidence, 
and,  therefore,  though  I  do  not  enjoin  it,  I  do  not 
forbid  it." 

Then  he  goes  on   to  say,  "All    iniquity  is   sin." 
Now,  iniquity  means  all  departure  from  the  rectitude 
of  God  and  of  the  law  of  God.   Iniquity  is  inequality, 
*  Heb.  vi.  6.  \1  St.  John  ii.  19. 


MORTAL   SIN.  43 

or  crookedness.  Everything  that  is  not  conformed 
to  the  rectitude  of  God,  to  His  perfections,  to  His 
law,  and  to  His  will,  is  sin.  "And  there  is  a  sin  nnto 
death."  We  have  here  a  distinction  of  those  sins 
which  are  and  those  which  are  not  mortal.  My  pur- 
pose now  is  very  roughly  to  define  what  it  is  that 
constitutes  this  distinction ;  and,  secondly,  to  show 
what  are  the  effects  of  this  mortal  sin  which  is  unto 
death. 

As  I  have  said  before,  to  constitute  a  mortal  sin  it 
is  necessary  that  the  man  who  commits  it  should 
know  what  he  does — there  must  be  a  knowledge  of 
the  intellect ;  if  not,  the  sin  is  only,  as  I  then  said,  a 
material  sin,  and  not  a  formal  sin,  unless  his  ignor- 
ance be  a  culpable  and  guilty  ignorance.  Next,  he 
must  not  only  know  that  he  is  doing  wrong,  but  his 
will  must  consent  to  the  wrong-doing.  Thirdly,  he 
must  know  and  consent  deliberately,  with  such  an 
advertence  or  attention  to  what  he  is  about  as  to  make 
him  conscious  of  his  action.  A  man  who  should 
transgress  the  law  of  God  in  the  least  possible  way 
would  fulfill  these  three  conditions.  It  would  be  a 
transgression  of  the  law  of  God  if  I  should  take  an 
apple  off  the  tree  of  my  neighbor  without  his  leave. 
It  was  his  :  I  had  not  a  right  to  take  it,  and  I  thereby 
broke  the  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal ; " 
but  that  certainly  would  not  be  a  sin  unto  death.     It 


44:  MORTAL    SIN. 

became  a  sin  unto  death  when  a  divine  prohibition 
was  laid  npon  such  an  act  under  pain  of  death,  and 
that  the  pain  of  eternal  death ;  but  where  there  is  no 
such  command  laid  under  pain  of  death,  it  is  quite 
clear  that  the  taking  of  an  apple  would  not  constitute 
a  sin  unto  death.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  that  there 
should  be  a  gravity  in  the  matter  of  the  sin ;  and 
the  gravity  of  that  matter  will  be  constituted  in  one 
of  two  ways — it  is  either  the  material  gravity,  that 
is,  the  extent,  or  amount,  or  quantity  of  the  sin  com- 
mitted ;  or  it  is  the  moral  gravity  derived  from  the 
circumstances  of  the  case.  An  illustration  will  at 
once  make  this  clear.  If  I  were  to  rob  a  man  of  a 
very  large  amount  of  his  property,  no  one  would 
doubt  for  an  instant  that  I  had  committed  a  sin  unto 
death,  or  a  mortal  sin.  The  common  sense  of  man- 
kind, the  instincts  of  justice,  would  at  once  pronounce 
against  me.  If  I  were  to  take  a  needle  from  some 
rich  person,  the  instincts  of  justice  would  acquit  me 
of  a  sin  unto  death.  I  have  taken  that  which  did  not 
belong  to  me,  but  no  one  would  say  that,  in  taking 
that  needle  from  the  rich  man,  who  could  obtain 
an  abundant  supply  of  needles,  I  had  committed  a 
sin  unto  death.  No.  But  suppose  that  needle  be- 
longed to  a  poor  seamstress,  who  gained  her  daily 
bread  by  the  industrious  use  of  that  one  needle,  and 
that  she  had  not  the  means  to  buy  another ;  and  that 


MORTAL    SIN".  45 

if  she  were  robbed  of  it,  her  industry  must  cease,  and 
she  could  no  longer  gain  her  bread ;  and  that  I  knew 
all  those  facts ;  and  that,  with  my  eyes  open,  know- 
ing the  extent  of  the  injury  I  was  doing,  in  violation 
of  the  law  of  charity,  as  well  as  of  the  law  of  justice, 
I  should  take  that  needle  with  a  perfect  conscious- 
ness that  I  was  destroying  the  means  of  industry 
and  reducing  her  to  hunger.  You  see  at  once  that 
there  is  a  moral  guilt  which  arises  from  these  circum- 
stances. Suppose,  still  further,  that  I  myself  were 
jealous  of  her  prosperity,  being  of  the  same  trade  or 
calling,  and  that  I  take  the  needle  in  order  to  ruin 
her  for  my  own  advantage.  You  see,  therefore,  that 
in  so  small  a  theft  as  the  stealing  of  a  needle  there 
may  be  an  enormity  of  moral  guilt.  It  is  not  enough, 
then,  that  there  should  be  the  knowledge  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  the  consent  of  the  will  to  the  action,  unless 
the  matter  in  which  that  action  is  committed  shall  be 
of  a  grave  kind,  either  materially  or  morally,  before 
God. 

There  are  seven  capital  sins,  the  names  of  which 
you  all  know.  First  of  all,  there  is  pride,  which 
separates  the  soul  from  God ;  secondly,  there  is 
envy,  or  jealousy,  which  separates  a  man  from  his 
neighbor ;  thirdly,  there  is  sloth,  which  is  a  burden 
pressing  down  the  powers  of  man,  so  that  he  be- 
comes weary  of  his  duty  towards  God,  and  forsakes 


46  MORTAL    SIN. 

Him ;  fourthly,  there  is  avarice,  which  plunges  a 
man  deep  into  the  mire  of  this  world,  so  that  he 
makes  it  to  be  his  god ;  fifthly,  there  is  gluttony, 
which  makes  a  sensual  fool ;  sixthly,  there  is  anger, 
which  makes  a  man  a  slave  to  himself ;  and,  lastly, 
there  is  impurity,  which  makes  a  man  a  slave  of  the 
devil.  In  those  seven  kinds  there  are  seven  ways  of 
eternal  death ;  and  all  those  who,  with  their  eyes 
open,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  intellect,  and  the 
full  consent  of  the  will,  commit  sin  in  any  of  those 
seven  kinds,  are  walking  in  the  way  towards  sin  unto 
death. 

1.  We  come  now  to  the  effects.  The  first  effect 
of  one  mortal  sin  is  to  strike  the  soul  dead.  The 
grace  of  God  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  as  the  soul  is  the 
life  of  the  body ;  and  one  sin  unto  death,  in  any  one 
of  the  kinds  that  I  have  spoken  of,  strikes  the  soul 
dead.  The  soul  dies  at  once,  and  on  the  spot ;  not  as 
the  tree  which  is  blasted  by  the  lightning  and  dies 
gradually,  day  after  day ;  first  in  the  leader,  then  it 
begins  to  die  in  the  branches,  and  then  it  dies  in 
the  trunk,  and  then  it  dies  in  the  root.  This  is  a 
slow  process,  but  not  so  with  the  soul.  One  single 
sin  unto  death  strikes  the  soul  dead  at  once,  and  that 
for  this  reason :  the  grace  of  God  is  the  life  of  the 
soul,  and  one  mortal  sin  separates  the  soul  from  God. 
The  holy  angels,  when  they  were  created,  lived  in 


MORTAL   SIN".  47 

the  presence  of  God,  though,  they  did  not  as  yet  see 
the  face  of  God.  They  were  on  probation.  Every 
creature  depends  on  God  in  two  ways  :  he  needs  the 
support  of  God  for  his  existence ;  and  of  the  grace 
of  God  for  his  sanctifLcation.  If  God  were  not 
present  with  us  at  this  moment  in  our  physical  life, 
we  should  die.  If  He  were  not  in  this  building,  the 
walls  of  it  would  vanish.  So  it  was  with  the  angels 
in  their  first  state  of  bliss.  It  was  the  assistance  of 
God  which  sustained  them  in  their  being  as  pure 
intelligences,  spotless  in  their  innocence,  excellent  in 
their  strength,  surpassing  in  their  energy.  "  He 
maketh  His  angels  spirits,  and  His  ministers  a  flame 
of  fire."*  They  also  needed  grace.  The  angels 
were  holy  just  as  we  are  holy,  because  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  with  them ;  and  all  the  actions  of  the 
angelic  perfection  were  sustained  by  an  actual  grace 
and  help  of  God,  just  like  our  own.  By  one  sin — 
one  sin  unto  death — and  that  a  sin  of  pride,  purely 
spiritual,  they  fell  and  died  eternally  and  without 
redemption ;  and,  as  St.  Jude  writes :  "  Leaving  their 
habitations,  were  cast  down  into  darkness  and  ever- 
lasting chains  until  the  day  of  judgment."  f  As  it 
was  with  the  angelic  natures,  so  it  was  with  man. 
God,  when  He  created  man,  constituted  him,  as  I 
said  before,  with  three  perfections — the  perfection  of 
*  Heb.  i.  7.  f  St.  Jude  6. 


48  MORTAL    SIN. 

nature,  that  is,  of  body  and  soul ;  the  supernatural 
perfection,  or  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
of  sanctification  ;  and  the  preternatural  perfection  or 
the  perfect  harmony  of  the  soul  in  itself  and  with 
God  ;  and  the  immortality  of  the  body.  These 
three  perfections,  natural,  supernatural,  and  preter- 
natural, make  up  what  is  called  original  justice  ;  and 
in  that  state  man  was  constituted  when  he  was 
created.  But  by  one  sin  of  disobedience,  with  his 
eyes  open,  with  the  consent  of  his  will  and  with  full 
deliberation — and  that  in  a  matter  light  in  itself, 
as  I  have  said,  but  grave  because  the  prohibition  of 
God  under  the  penalty  of  eternal  death  was  laid  upon 
it — in  that  slight  trial,  without  temptation  save  only 
the  listening  to  the  tempter,  who  awTakened  a  spirit 
of  curiosity  and  disobedience,  where  all  around  him 
was  permitted  and  one  only  thing  forbidden,  man 
sinned  against  God,  and  by  that  one  sin  was  struck 
dead.  The  Holy  Ghost  departed  from  him,  and  all 
his  perfections  were  wrecked.  The  supernatural 
perfection  was  lost,  the  preternatural  perfection  was 
-forfeited,  the  soul  fell  from  God,  the  body  was  struck 
by  death.  He  became  from  that  time  disinherited, 
shorn  of  sanctity  and  life  :  one  sin  unto  death 
separated  him  and  all  his  posterity  from  God.  As 
it  was  in  the  case  of  Adam,  so  it  is  also  in  the  case 
of  the  regenerate  ;  so  it  is  in  our  own.     We  who  are 


MOETAL    SEST.  49 

born  into  the  world,  spiritually  dead,  have  once  more, 
by  regeneration  in  baptism,  the  life  of  the  Spirit.  If 
we  sin  mortally,  with  our  eyes  open  and  with  con- 
sent of  our  will,  we  forfeit  the  presence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  soul,  the  charity  of  God  which  unites 
us  to  Him,  the  sanctifying  grace  whereby  we  are 
made  children  of  God,  the  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  are  always  inseparably  united  to  His 
presence.  There  is  left  in  us,  indeed,  the  grace  of 
hope  and  the  grace  of  faith.  These  two  remain  like 
the  beating  of  the  pulse  and  the  breathing  of  the 
lungs  :  there  is  just  so  much  left  of  the  life  of  grace 
with  the  light  of  faith  and  the  aspiration  of  hope 
after  God ;  but  our  union  with  God  is  broken  :  we 
are  separated  from  Him,  and  at  variance  with  Him. 
This  is  the  first  effect  of  mortal  sin;  for  habitual 
grace  and  the  presence  of  God  are  the  life  of  the  soul ; 
and  the  loss  of  that  grace,  which  is  the  loss  of  the 
presence  of  God,  is  the  death  of  the  soul. 

2.  But  further:  one  mortal  sin  destroys  all  the 
merits  that  the  soul  has  ever  heaped  up.  Understand 
what  is  meant  by  merit.  The  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  this :  not  that  any  creature  can  merit  in 
the  sense  of  claiming  out  of  the  hand  of  his  Maker, 
Redeemer,  and  Judge,  by  any  right  of  his  own,  any- 
thing whatsoever  in  nature  or  in  grace.  Cast  out  of 
your  minds  forever  all  shadow  of  misunderstanding 
3 


50  MOETAL    SIN. 

upon  this.  Merit  does  not  signify  that  the  creature 
can  by  any  right  of  his  own,  either  in  the  order  of 
nature  or  of  grace,  challenge  and  demand  of  God  the 
gift  or  the  possession  of  anything.  No.  The  word 
"  merit  "  is  used  in  two  senses.  There  is  the  merit 
for  good,  and  the  merit  for  evil.  Every  good  action 
has  a  merit — that  is,  a  certain  conformity  to  the  will 
of  God ;  and  every  evil  action  has  a  merit,  that  is,  a 
deformity,  which  will  be  followed  by  punishment. 
Therefore,  "  merit "  is  a  word  altogether  indifferent 
in  itself,  and  derives  its  meaning  for  good  or  for  evil 
from  its  context.  Merit  signifies  the  connection  or 
link  that  exists  between  certain  actions  done  in  grace 
and  certain  awards ;  and  that  connection  or  link  is 
constituted  sovereignly  and  gratuitously  by  the  grace 
and  promise  of  God.  So  that  every  man  who  does 
acts  of  faith,  or  of  charity,  or  of  self-denial,  or  of 
piety,  will  receive  a  reward,  both  in  this  life  and  the 
next,  according  to  those  actions.  Every  man  who 
does  acts  of  charity  will  receive  an  increase  of  charity 
and  of  grace  in  this  life  ;  and  hereafter,  as  the  Coun- 
cil of  Florence  defines,  the  glory  of  the  blessed  shall  be 
in  proportion  to  the  measure  of  their  charity  on  earth. 
There  is  a  link,  then,  between  the  measure  of  our  char- 
ity here  and  the  measure  of  our  glory  hereafter.  This 
is  what  is  called  merit ;  and  all  through  our  life,  if 
we  are  living  faithfully  in  the  grace  of  God,  we  are 


MORTAL    SIN.  51 

thereby  heaping  up  merits,  and  acquiring  in  virtue 
of  the  promise  a  greater  reward  and  a  greater  bliss. 
I  may  give  as  example  the  life  of  the  Apostles,  who, 
through  the  whole  of  their  career,  even  to  their  mar- 
tyrdom, were  continually  increasing  in  the  sight  of 
God  the  accumulation  of  His  good-will,  of  His  grace, 
and  of  His  reward.  This  is  true  of  you  all,  and 
through  your  whole  life  everything  that  you  do  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  God,  being  in  a  state  of  grace, 
has  in  the  Book  of  Remembrance  a  record,  and  in 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  our  Divine  Master  a  promise  of 
reward,  which  shall  be  satisfied  at  His  coming.  One 
sin,  then,  unto  death,  unless  afterwards  repented  of, 
utterly  cancels  all  these  merits  of  a  whole  life.  It  mat- 
ters not  how  long  you  may  have  been  living  a  life  of 
justice,  of  charity,  of  humility,  of  generosity,  and 
of  piety,  before  God — one  mortal  sin,  and  the  whole 
of  that  record  is  canceled  from  the  Book  of  His  re- 
membrance. It  is  all  gone  as  if  it  had  never  been. 
Do  you  need  proofs  of  it  ?  Take  the  history  of 
David,  the  "man  after  God's  own  heart."*  You 
remember  his  faith,  his  patience,  his  fidelity,  his 
courage,  his  prayer,  his  spirit  of  thanksgiving.  He 
is  the  Psalmist  of  Israel,  the  man  with  the  greatest 
of  all  titles — "  the  man  after  God's  own  heart."  But 
in  one  moment,  by  the  twofold  sin  of  murder  and 

*  Acts  xiii.  22. 


52  MORTAL   SIN. 

adultery,  lie  canceled  before  God  every  merit  of  liis 
youth  and  of  his  manhood  :  all  was  dead  before  God. 
Solomon,  the  son  of  David,  the  type  of  our  Divine 
Lord,  the  King  of  Peace,  the  man  famous  for  wis- 
dom— not  only  because  he  received  it  as  a  divine 
gift,  but  because  he  had  the  wisdom  to  ask  for  wis- 
dom, not  for  riches — the  man  illuminated  beyond  all 
other  men,  because  afterwards  he  fell  away  from 
God  into  sin  unto  death,  all  the  merit  of  that  long 
life  of  wisdom  and  light  and  of  early  sanctity  was 
canceled.  Judas,  in  his  childhood,  and  in  his  boy- 
hood, and  hi  his  youth,  was  perhaps  as  faithful  to  the 
light  of  his  conscience  as  you  have  been.  He  left 
kindred  and  all  that  he  had,  to  follow  his  Master. 
'No  doubt  there  were  in  his  heart  struggles  and 
aspirations  and  prayers  and  desires  to  walk  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  Divine  Lord ;  but  there  crept  upon 
him  the  sin  of  covetousness.  He  carried  the  bag, 
and  that  which  was  put  therein ;  and  Satan  tempted 
him,  and  then  entered  into  him,  and  he  sold  his 
Master.  Ananias,  in  like  manner,  renounced  the 
world,  periled  his  own  life  to  become  a  Christian, 
sold  all  that  he  had,  made  sacrifice  of  everything ; 
but  kept  back  part  of  the  price.  Demas  was  the 
companion  of  Apostles,  and  exposed  his  life  to  danger, 
and  lived  in  toil  and  poverty  and  perpetual  risk,  the 
companion  of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  until  he 


MORTAL   SIN.  53 

forsook  him,  having  loved  this  present  world  ;  *  and 
all  the  merits  of  that  life  of  faith,  and  of  all  those 
actions  which  once  were  recorded  in  the  Book  of 
God's  remembrance,  were  in  one  moment  canceled  ; 
and  therefore  St.  Paul  said  of  himself,  "I  keep 
under  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection,  lest,^ 
after  I  have  preached  the  Gospel  to  others,  I  myself 
should  become  a  castaway."  f  The  prophet  Ezekiel 
says,  "When  the  just  man  turneth  away  from  justice 
he  hath  done,  and  committeth  iniquity ;  in  the  ini- 
quity he  hath  done,  in  the  sin  he  hath  committed,  in 
that  he  shall  die,  and  his  justice  shall  be  no  more 
remembered."  :£ 

3.  The  third  effect  is  even  more  terrible ;  it  mor- 
tifies and  kills  the  very  power  of  serving  God.  All 
the  actions  of  a  man  in  a  state  of  mortal  sin  are  dead ; 
they  have  no  merit  or  power  to  prevail  before  God 
for  his  salvation.  So  long  as  he  is  separated  from 
God,  nothing  he  does  has  saving  power.  Just  as  a 
tree  that  has  life  bears  living  fruit,  and  a  tree  that  is 
dead  has  nothing  but  fruit  that  is  withered  and  dead 
likewise,  so  a  soul  that  is  planted  in  God,  as  we  all 
are  by  baptism,  strikes  its  root  as  the  tree  by  the* 
rivers  of  water,  and  increases  continually  in  faith, 
hope,  and  charity,  and  in  the  seven  gifts  of  the 
Holy   Ghost,   which    expand    themselves    like    the 

*  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  f  1  Cor.  ix.  27.  %  Ezek-  m-  30- 


54  MORTAL    SIN. 

leaves  upon  the  branch,  and  the  twelve  fruits  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  unfold  themselves  and  ripen.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  soul  that  is  separated  from  God  is 
like  'the  tree  that  is  cut  asunder  at  the  root,  and  as 
the  severed  tree  withers  from  the  topmost  spray  and 
every  fruit  upon  it  dies,  so  the  soul  in  the  state  of 
mortal  sin,  if  it  be  only  one,  so  long  as  it  remains  in 
that  state,  is  separated  from  God,  and  can  bear  no 
fruit  unto  salvation.  The  Apostle  has  declared  this 
in  the  most  express  words :  "  Though  I  speak  with 
the  tongue  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  become  as  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling 
cymbal ;  and  if  I  have  all  prophecy  and  all  know- 
ledge, and  can  understand  all  mysteries,  and  though 
I  have  faith  and  could  remove  mountains,  and  have 
not  charity,  I  am  nothing ;  and  though  I  give  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor  and  my  body  to  be  burned, 
and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing  :.?*/** 
that  is  to  say,  a  soul  separatee!  from  God,  not  having 
the  love  of  God ;  it  matters  not  what  the  soul  may 
know,  it  may  be  able  to  prophecy,  to  expound  mys- 
teries, to  work  miracles :  it  may  give  all  it  possesses 
to  the  poor  in  alms,  it  may  be  martyred,  as  men  may 
think,  and  yet,  if  it  hath  not  the  love  of  God,  it 
profits  nothing  to  salvation.  There  will  be  at  the 
last  day  those  who  will  come  to  our  Divine  Lord 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  1-3. 


MORTAL    SIN.  55 

and  say,  "  Lord !  Lord !  we  prophecied  in  Thy  name, 
we  cast  out  devils  and  did  many  mighty  works  in 
Thy  name  ;  we  have  eaten  and  drunk  in  Thy  pres- 
ence ;  and  He  will  say  nnto  them,  Depart  from  Me, 
I  never  knew  you  : "  *  that  is  to  say,  a  soul  that  has 
sinned  unto  death  by  one  sin,  one  transgression,  con- 
tinuing in  that  state,  until  restored  to  union  with 
God  by  charity  and  by  grace,  is  dead  before  God, 
and  all  the  actions  of  the  soul  are  dead.  Those  who 
are  in  such  a  condition  are  like  men  looking  up  to  a 
high  mountain  on  which  the  sun  dwells  perpetually 
in  its  splendor,  and  there  is  a  glory  as  of  the 
Heavenly  City  upon  it,  and  they  long  to  climb  up 
to  it ;  but  before  them  there  is  the  breast  of  a  pre- 
cipice, which  no  human  foot  can  scale,  and  they  pine 
away  with  longing  and  with  the  impossibility  of  as- 
cending :  or  they  are  like  men  gazing  upon  a  fair 
country,  the  Promised  Land  of  vineyards  and  olive- 
yards  and  fig-trees,  and  rivers  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey ;  and  homes  of  peace  are  before  them ;  but  at 
their  feet  there  is  a  river,  so  deep  and  rapid,  without 
ferry  and  without  ford,  which  the  mightiest  swimmer 
cannot  pass.  So  it  is  with  sinners.  The  law  of  God 
stands  between  the  soul  that  is  cut  off  from  Him, 
between  the  soul  that  is  out  of  grace  and  the  peace 
of  God. 

*  St.  Matt.  vii.  22. 


56  MORTAL    SIN. 

4.  And  not  this  only :  the  soul  in  itself  begins  to 
lose  its  vigor  and  its  strength.  As  I  said  before, 
every  creature  needs  the  help  of  nature  and  of  grace  : 
and  the  supernatural  gifts  of  God — faith,  hope,  and 
charity — are  by  a  mortal  sin  either  entirely  destroyed 
or  weakened.  Charity  is  utterly  destroyed.  Hope 
remains  and  faith  remains,  but  hope  begins  to  grow 
faint ;  for  a  man  conscious  of  having  sinned  mor- 
tally against  God  cannot  deceive  himself  with  the 
hope  of  salvation  unless  he  has  grounds  for  hope ; 
and  what  grounds  can  an  impenitent  sinner  have  ? 
The  faith  that  remains  in  him — what  does  it  show  to 
him?  "The  Great  White  Throne,"  "the  smoke 
that  ascendeth  up  before  the  Seat  of  Judgment,"  the 
law  of  God  written  in  letters  of  fire  :  "  There  is  no 
peace,  saith  my  God,  for  the  wicked,"  *  and  "  with- 
out holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."f  Faith 
shows  him  judgment  to  come,  and  the  witnesses  that 
will  stand  before  the  Throne  on  that  day  and  bear 
testimony  against  him  ;  and  therefore  the  faith  that 
remains  in  him  is  a  terrible  light,  warning  him  and 
piercing  his  conscience.  So  far  the  supernatural 
grace  that  is  still  with  him  is  goading  him  with  fear 
to  bring  him  back  to  God  ;  more  than  this  it  cannot 
do.  The  natural  powers  of  the  soul  are  also  affected 
when  a  man  is  in  a  state  of  sin.  The  heart  becomes 
*  Isa.  xlviii.  22.  +  Heb.  xii.  14. 


MORTAL    SIN.  57 

corrupt,  the  soul  becomes  weak.  Let  me  take  what 
may  seem  to  be  an  example  not  fitting  for  you.  You 
who  listen  to  me  are  not  likely  to  be  tempted  to  ex- 
cess, or  intoxication,  but  it  is  an  apt  example  to 
illustrate  every  kind  of  sin.  The  man  who  indulges 
himself  in  drink  loses  the  vigor  and  command  of 
his  will.  The  will  becomes  feeble  and  loses  its 
imperious  control.  It  can  no  longer  command  the 
man.  It  is  like  a  rotten  helm  which  the  ship  will 
not  obey.  The  will  itself  becomes  paralyzed — there 
is  a  solvent  which  has  been  eating  away  its  elasticity 
and  its  power,  and  what  happens  in  this  gross  ex- 
ample happens  in  every  other.  I  might  take  false- 
hood, sloth,  or  other  sins  I  named  before — but  you 
must  make  application  for  yourselves.  The  very  will 
loses  its  power  of  repenting.  Ay,  and  there  is  a  still 
more  terrible  thought  than  this.  Sometimes  the 
sins  that  men  have  committed  long  ago  are  the  cause 
of  their  instability,  their  inconsistency,  their  waver- 
ing, and  irresolution  at  this  day.  They  have  never 
yet  returned  to  God ;  they  have  never  yet  been 
really  restored  to  the  grace  of  G-od  and  vitally  united 
to  Him.  They  carry  within  them  that  which  we 
read  of  in  the  Book  of  Job,  where  it  says :  "  His 
bones  are  full  of  the  vices  of  his  youth,  and  they 
shall  go  down  with  him  to  his  grave."  * 

*  Job  xx.  11. 
3* 


58  MORTAL    SIN. 

5.  Lastly,  there  is  another  effect  of  the  sin  unto 
death ;  that  is,  that  it  brings  a  man  into  a  double 
debt  before  God — it  brings  him  into  the  debt  of 
guilt,  and  into  the  debt  of  pain — and  he  will  have  to 
pay  both.  The  debt  of  guilt  he  must  answer  at  the 
Day  of  Judgment.  The  debt  of  pain  he  must  suffer 
before  he  can  see  God,  either  here,  or  after  death  in 
the  state  of  purification :  or  in  hell  to  all  eternity. 
Every  substance  in  this  world  has  its  shadow.  You 
cannot  separate  the  shadow  from  the  substance. 
Where  the  substance  moves  the  shadow  follows,  so 
every  sin  has  its  pain ;  it  matters  not  whether  we 
think  of  it  or  no,  whether  we  believe  it  or  no.  So  it 
is :  God  has  ordained  it  from  the  day  in  wliich  He 
said :  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eat  est  thereof,  thou 
shalt  die  the  death."  From  that  day  onward,  no  sin 
has  ever  been  committed  that  has  not  been  followed 
by  its  measure  of  judicial  pain.  It  must  be  some 
day  expiated,  either  by  bearing  it  here  or  bearing  it 
hereafter,  or  by  a  loving  sorrow  prevailing  with  God 
through  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  wash 
out  from  the  book  of  His  remembrance  the  great 
debt  of  accumulated  sin. 

I  will  not  go  further  into  these  effects ;  I  will 
only  sum  up  what  I  have  said.  First  of  all,  one 
mortal  sin  unto  death  strikes  a  soul  dead.  Secondly, 
one  such  sin  when  the  soul  is  struck  dead  destroys 


MORTAL    SIN.  59 

all  the  merits  of  a  long  life,  be  they  what  they  may 
— hereafter  I  will  show  how  they  may  all  revive 
again,  like  the  spring  after  the  winter-time ;  but  this, 
not  for  the  present.  .Thirdly,  one  such  sin  unto 
death  mortifies,  kills,  and  destroys  the  saving  power 
of  every  action  that  the  soul  may  do  while  in  that 
state  of  separation  from  God.  Fourthly,  it  weakens 
both  the  supernatural  graces  that  remain  in  the  soul, 
and  the  natural  powers  and  faculties  of  the  soul  itself. 
Lastly,  it  brings  the  soul  into  the  double  debt  of 
guilt  and  pain.  These  are  the  five  effects  of  a  sin 
unto  death. 

I  have  but  a  few  words  of  counsel  to  add.  The 
first  is  this :  meditate  every  day  of  your  lives  upon 
this  great  and  awful  truth — how  easy  it  is  to  fall 
from  God  ;  and  say  to  yourselves,  "  God  is  my  end  ; 
for  Him  I  was  created ;  and  if  I  fall  short  of  that 
end  by  a  hair's-breadth,  if  I  swerve  aside  from  attain- 
ing that  end,  I  shall  go  down  into  eternal  death." 
An  arrow  shot  at  a  mark,  a  hair's-breadth  aside  from 
its  aim,  fails  to  attain  it.  A  ship  steered  by  a  con- 
fident and  cunning  hand,  if  it  miss  the  light,  is 
wrecked,  be  it  never  so  near  the  port :  and  a  soul  that 
does  not  attain  to  union* with  God  here  in  a  state  of 
grace  will  be  separated  from  God  to  all  eternity. 
Next  say  to  yourselves,  "  If  I  do  not  correspond  with 
the  grace  which  God  has  given  me,  I  shall  miss  my 


60  MORTAL    SIN. 

eternal  end."  As  I  have  before  said,  God  is  co- 
operating with  every  creature.  The  drawing  of  His 
Holy  Spirit,  and  the  gifts  of  His  grace,  are  like  a 
chain  of  gold  drawing  every  created  soul  to  Himself. 
"  God  wills  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth;"  and  again,  our  Divine 
Lord  has  said :  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  things  unto  Me."  God  is  draw- 
ing every  created  soul  to  Himself.  He  is  drawing 
them  to  the  knowledge  of  Himself  and  of  His  In- 
carnate Son,  and  of  the  Precious  Blood  shed  on  the 
Cross  from  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus ;  and  the 
graces  and  the  love  and  the  breathings  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  are  perpetually  going  out  and  drawing  souls  to 
Himself,  and  to  the  unity  of  the  Church.  God  is 
always  drawing  souls  to  repentance,  and  through 
repentance  to  perfection,  and  from  one  degree  of 
perfection  to  another,  raising  them  higher  and  higher 
to  union  with  Himself.  This  is  always  going  on, 
but  we  must  correspond  with  it.  Listen  to  Him, 
respond,  answer,  lay  hold  of  that  grace  which  is 
offered  to  you,  keep  fast  the  links  of  that  golden 
chain,  never  let  it  go,  and  take  heed  lest  you  break 
its  links. 

We  often  think  if  a  soul  that  is  already  in  eternal 
death  could  once  more  return,  what  would  be  the 
fervor  of  such  a  soul  through  all  the  time  granted 


MORTAL    SIN.  m  61 

it  on  earth.  What  humility,  what  hatred  of  sin, 
what  holy  fear  of  its  occasions,  what  piety,  what  self- 
denial,  what  self-sacrifice,  would  mark  a  soul  that 
once  had  tasted  eternal  death,  if  it  could  return,  and 
have  one  more  opportunity  of  salvation.  What  a 
life  of  the  Cross,  and  of  intense  devotion  to  God, 
that  soul  would  live !  You  have  never  yet  gone 
down  into  eternal  death.  You  have  been  the  sub- 
ject of  a  greater  grace  than  even  if  you  had  been 
liberated.  You  are  still  in  life,  still  surrounded  by 
the  light  of  truth,  you  have  yet  the  graces  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  abundance,  you  have  time,  you  have 
opportunity,  you  have  the  seven  Sacraments,  you 
have  the  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  the  Precious 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ :  all  that  is  needful  for  eternal 
life — ay,  and  that  in  abundance,  without  stint  and 
without  measure.  You  are  like  the  Prodigal  Son 
before  he  left  his  father's  house — you  have  not  yet 
tasted  that  far  country,  and  the  misery  and  condem- 
nation of  falling  from  God.  Therefore,  say  to  your- 
selves :  "  God  be  praised  !  I  am  still  in  life,  and  my 
day  of  grace  is  not  gone  by."  The  sun  is  yet  in  the 
heavens — with  some  it  is  in  the  morning  still,  with 
'  others  it  is  the  noontide,  with  some  who  hear  me  it 
is  declining  towards  the  horizon.  Say :  "  Lord,  abide 
with  us  ;  for  it  is  towards  evening,  and  the  day  is  far 
spent.     Give  me  grace  to  make  my  peace  with  Thee, 


62  MORTAL    SIN. 

that  I  may  be  united  with  Thee,  lest  Thou  find  me 
parted  from  Thee  in  the  day  of  Thy  coming." 

This,  then,  is  the  first  thought  I  would  pray  you 
with  all  my  heart  to  make  day  after  day ;  and  the 
other  is  like  unto  it,  but  it  is  more  terrible.  Day 
after  day  say  this  to  yourselves :  "  If  I  fall  from  God 
— as  I  easily  may — I  shall  go  down  alive  into  hell." 
Dear  brethren,  we  live  in  days  when  men  must 
speak  plainly.  There  are  among  us,  going  to  and 
fro,  as  there  are  in  foreign  countries,  mockers,  scoffers, 
blasphemers,  ministers  of  Satan,  apostles  of  lies, 
who  say  there  is  no  hell.  Eternal  punishment ! 
mediaeval  fables  !  Popish  superstition !  True  it  is 
that  the  Church  which  is  called  "  Popish  "  inflexibly 
maintains  that  there  is  a  hell,  that  there  is  an  eternal 
punishment,  and  that  they  who  live  and  die  impeni- 
tent will  go  down  quick  into  that  torment.  It  is  a 
glory  that  such  a  charge  is  laid  against  the  Church 
of  Pome.  I  accept  the  accusation  —  ay,  and  as  a 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  an  apostle  of  His 
Gospel,  I  declare  that  God  has  revealed  that  there 
is  hereafter  eternal  pain  and  everlasting  death.  As 
there  is  a  heaven,  so  there  is  a  hell.  As  there  is 
eternal  life,  so  there  is  eternal  death.  Be  on  your 
guard,  then,  dear  brethren.  Be  not  so  shallow  or  so 
credulous.  Let  no  impostors,  who  pretend  to  philos- 
ophy and  to  criticism,  lead  you  for  one  moment  to 


MORTAL    SIN.  63 

believe  that  the  existence  of  hell  and  eternal  punish- 
ment is  by  an  arbitrary  law,  by  a  mere  act  of  Divine 
legislation,  like  a  statute  made  by  despotic  power. 
Eternal  death  is  an  intrinsic  necessity  of  the  perfec- 
tion of  God,  and  of  the  wilful  apostasy  of  man.  If 
there  be  a  God  who  is  holy,  just,  pure,  true,  and  un- 
changeable ;  then,  if  man  is  impure,  unjust,  unholy, 
and  false,  and  will  not  change  by  repentance,  as  light 
and  darkness  cannot  exist  together,  God  and  that 
soul  cannot  unite  in  eternity.  It  is  not  a  statute 
law.  It  is  an  intrinsic  necessity  of  the  Divine  per- 
fection on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  sinfulness  of  the 
human  soul  upon  the  other.  Why  is  the  human  soul 
unholy  and  unjust  ?  By  the  abuse  of  the  free  will 
which  God  has  given  us — as  I  said  in  the  beginning 
— by  the  open-eyed  transgression  of  God's  law,  by 
the  deliberate  breaking  of  His  commandments,  by 
the  impenitent  persevering  in  that  state  of  disobe- 
dience and  of  separation  from  God,  which  in  itself 
is  death,  which  is  eternal  death  in  time,  which  is  hell 
upon  earth.  Except  the  soul  repent,  it  already  begins 
to  taste  the  condemnation  of  eternity. 

Therefore,  bear  in  mind  that  the  holiness  of  God 
and  the  sinfulness  of  man  are  enough  clearly  to  de- 
monstrate the  intrinsic  necessity  of  an  eternal  sepa- 
ration. And  what  is  hell  but  to  be  separated  from 
God  eternally  ?  and  to  be  separated  from  God  not  as 


64:  MORTAL    SIN. 

we  are  here,  with  our  souls  clogged  and  stupefied  by 
sin,  intoxicated  by  the  world,  ignorant  of  ourselves  ? 
No.  After  death,  the  eyes  of  the  soul  will  be  opened, 
the  scales  will  fall  from  its  sight,  it  will  see  itself 
for  the  first  time,  as  it  will  for  the  first  time  see 
God  in  judgment.  And  when  it  shall  see  God  in 
judgment,  all  that  instinct  of  the  soul  in  which  it 
was  from  the  beginning  created  for  God — an  instinct 
like  the  needle  of  the  compass,  which  points  by  its 
own  law  always  to  the  north,  as  in  the  blaze  of  the 
noonday,  so  in  the  darkness  of  the  midnight,  will 
return  to  its  direction.  The  lost  soul  that  was  cre- 
ated in  the  image  of  God,  of  which  the  beatific  end 
is  God,  and  to  be  united  with  God  is  life,  will  then 
begin  to  hunger  and  thirst  after  God,  when  to  be 
united  with  God  is  impossible  forever.  Just  as 
breathing  is  a  vital  necessity  to  the  body,  so  union 
with  God  is  a  vital  necessity  to  the  soul.  You  know 
sometimes  in  sleep  a  sense  of  stifling  and  suffocation 
in  which  you  seem  to  lie  an  endless  night  in  torment ; 
conceive  to  yourselves  an  eternity  of  that  suffocation, 
when  the  soul  is  conscious  of  the  vital  necessity  of 
its  union  with  God,  when  to  be  united  with  God  is 
eternally  impossible.  Ay,  more  than  this,  there  will 
be  a  torment  in  the  soul  which  is  the  undying  worm 
that  will  gnaw  to  all  eternity.  What  is  that  torment  ? 
Remorse.     The  consciousness  that  the  soul  has  com- 


MORTAL   SIN.  65 

mitted  self-murder,  that  it  died  because  it  sinned 
unto  death,  and  that  it  sinned  unto  death  of  its  own 
free  will.  There  was  no  constraint,  no  necessity. 
With  its  own  free  will  it  sinned  against  God,  and 
broke  the  link  of  union  with  Him.  In  eternal  death 
the  worm  that  dieth  not,  the  perpetual  tooth  of  re- 
morse, will  make  the  soul  conscious  of  an  anguish 
which  no  human  heart  can  conceive.  There  is  no 
need  of  fire  to  torment ;  this  alone  is  torment  enough, 
to  lose  God  eternally  ,*  to  have  eternal  remorse  with- 
out anything  more  is  hell ;  but  there  will  be  more. 
Those  who  are  lost  will  be  lost  together — multitudes, 
myriads  of  millions — all  in  misery,  all  separated  from 
God,  all  in  remorse,  all  feeding  on  themselves,  hate- 
ful and  hating  one  another.  I  have  not  said  one 
word  as  yet  of  that  which  I  now  will  add.  /  It  is  true 
there  is  a  Divine  mystery  which  we  shall  know — 
God  grant  not  by  experience.  Our  Divine  Lord  has 
said  it :  "  Where  the  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is 
not  quenched."  And  again  :  "  Go,  ye  cursed,  into 
everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 
There  is  an  eternal  pain  by  fire.  God  has  declared 
it.  Woe  to  the  man  that  denies  it !  Satan  is  always 
endeavoring  to  efface  this  belief  out  of  the  minds  of 
men — doing  everything  he  can  by  subtle  philosophy, 
by  specious  reasoning,  by  appeals  to  the  mercy  of 
God,  by  wonderful  exaltations  of  the  Divine  perfec- 


66  MOETAL   SIN. 

tions,  and  criticisms  upon  the  Greek  Testament,  by 
laughter,  derision,  scoffing,  and  mockery,  before  which 
many  a  man  who  is  not  afraid  of  going  into  battle  is 
coward  enough  to  run  away.  Satan  is  always  en- 
deavoring to  root  out  the  belief  of  eternal  fire  from 
the  minds  of  men.  I  will  tell  you  why.  Because 
the  greater  multitude  of  men  have  so  little  hunger 
and  thirst  after  God,  so  little  aspiration  after  union 
with  Him,  that  they  are  conscious  only  of  the  fear  of 
an  eternal  pain  to  keep  them  from  sin.  If  he  could 
only  efface  from  the  minds  of  men  the  thought  of 
eternal  pain,  there  is  nothing  left  to  restrain  them ; 
and  for  this  he  is  always  laboring.  There  is  nothing 
Satan  loves  better  than  to  get  men  to  laugh  at  him, 
to  use  his  name  in  jest,  to  interlard  their  conversa- 
tion with  some  reference  to  him  in  mocking  levity, 
which  very  soon  makes  men  cease  to  fear  him,  and 
then  cease  to  believe  in  his  existence.  On  the  other 
hand,  God  is  always  striving  to  awaken  and  revive 
in  the  conscience  of  each  one  of  us  the  sense  of  the 
danger  of  eternal  death  by  His  Divine  Word,  by  the 
voice  of  His  Church,  by  the  whispers  of  conscience. 
He  is  perpetually  reviving  in  every  one  of  us  the  sense 
and  belief  that  there  is  hereafter  a  judgment  and  a 
condemnation  to  eternal  fire. 

Live,  then,  as  you  would  wish  to  die  ;  because  as 
you  die,  so  you  will  be  to  all  eternity.    Precisely  that 


MOETAL    SIN.  67 

character  which  you  have  woven  for  yourself  through 
life  by  the  voluntary  acts  of  your  free  will,  be  it  for 
good  or  be  it  for  evil,  that  will  be  your  eternal  state 
before  God.  If  God  find  you  clothed  in  the  white 
raiment  which  is  the  justice  of  the  saints,  happy  are 
you  ;  you  will  walk  before  Him  in  white  forever. 
If  you  be  found  in  the  rags  and  tatters  of  the  Prod- 
igal before  his  repentance,  you  will  be  cast  out 
from  His  face,  and  all  men  will  see  your  shame.  As 
you  live,  so  you  will  die ;  as  you  die,  so  you  will  be 
forever.  God  is  unchangeable.  You  are  continually 
changing ;  but  death  will  precipitate  the  form  in 
which  you  die,  and  you  will  be  so  fixed  forever.  As 
the  tree  falls,  so  it  shall  be.  Make  one  mistake,  and 
that  mistake  is  made  forever.  Oh,  dear  brethren, 
look  round  about  us ;  how  many  men  there  are  that 
are  learned,  and  scientific,  and  noble,  and  eloquent, 
and  prosperous,  whom  the  world  honors  !  How 
many  there  are  that  are  amiable,  and  loving,  and 
loved,  and  their  neighbors  think  no  evil  of  them ; 
they  see  nothing  but  the  fair  outside — the  whited 
disguise.  Some  one  mortal  sin — God  knows  what — 
unrepented  of,  is  within.  Whited  sepulchres — fair 
without;  within,  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  of 
uncleanness.  Dear  brethren,  that  may  be  our  case. 
Say  to  yourselves,  every  one  of  you :  "  That  may  be 
my  case — that  may  be  my  likeness  before  God  at  this 


68  MORTAL    SIN. 

moment."  "  It  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die, 
and  after  that  the  judgment."*  And  hear  what 
that  judgment  will  be :  "I  saw  a  great  White  Throne 
and  One  sitting  on  it,  before  whose  face  the  heaven 
and  earth  fled  away,  and  there  was  no  place  found 
for  them ;  and  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand 
before  God;  and  the  books  were  opened,  and  the 
dead  were  judged  out  of  the  things  that  are  written  in 
the  books  ;  and  another  book  was  opened,  which  was 
the  Book  of  Life,  and  death  and  hell  were  cast  into 
the  pool  of  fire — which  is  the  second  death ;  and 
whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the  Book  of 
Life  was  cast  into  the  pool  of  fire."  f 

*  Heb.  ix.  27.  f  AP°c  xx.  11-15. 


III. 


VENIAL   SIN 


VENIAL    SIN. 


He  that  knoweth  his  brother  to  sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto 
death,  let  him  ask,  and  life  shall  be  given  to  him  who  sinneth  not 
to  death.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death  ;  for  that  I  say  not  that  any 
man  ask.    1  John  v.  16. 

There  is  therefore  a  distinction  between  sins  unto 
death,  and  sins  not  unto  death ;  or,  in  other  words, 
sins  that  are  mortal,  and  sins  that  are  venial — a  dis- 
tinction not  spun  out  by  the  subtleties  of  theologians, 
but  written  broadly  in  the-  Word  of  God.  Last  time 
I  spoke  of  the  sins  unto  death ;  it  remains  for  me 
now  to  speak  of  the  sins  that  are  not  unto  death. 
The  sum  of  what  I  said  last  time  is  this :  that  the 
sins  unto  death  are  deadly,  for  that  they  separate  the 
soul  from  God.  God  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  and  a 
soul  separated  from  God  is  dead.  A  soul  separated 
from  God  in  this  world,  unless  restored  to  union 
with  God  in  this  world,  by  the  operation  of  His 
grace  and  of  repentance,  after  the  death  of  the  body 
will  be  separated  from  God  for  all  eternity.    Such  is 

the  second  death,  or  in  other  words,  is  hell.     I  drew 

(71) 


72  VENIAL    SIN. 

out  the  reasons  to  show  the  existence  and  the  neces- 
sity of  hell — that  hell,  or  the  loss  of  God  forever,  is 
in  strict  truth  the  perpetuity  of  the  state  of  separa- 
tion from  God  which  the  sinner  has  freely  chosen  for 
himself  in  this  world,  and  that  so  hell  is  linked  by 
an  intrinsic  necessity  to  mortal  sin ;  that  the  separa- 
tion of  the  soul  from  God  through  mortal  sin  results, 
by  an  intrinsic  necessity,  from  the  unchangeable  per- 
fections of  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  obstinate 
variance  of  the  created  will  against  God  on  the  other ; 
and  that,  therefore,  every  soul  that  dies  eternally  dies 
by  self-murder.  It  is  not  more  a  just  judgment 
pronounced  at  the  bar  of  a  future  tribunal  than  an 
intrinsic  necessity  of  that  state  to  which  the  soul  has 
freely  reduced  itself. 

This  is  the  sum  of  what  I  have  already  said ;  and 
I  now  go  on  to  those  sins  which  are  not  unto  death, 
or  which,  in  the  common  language  of  theology,  are 
called  "venial."  The  word  "venial"  is  used  here 
in  the  sense  of  pardonable;  venial  sins  are  those 
which  may  be  pardoned.  In  a  general  sense,  there 
is  only  one  sin  which  cannot  be  pardoned.  Every 
mortal  sin  that  man  commits — if  repented  of — may 
be  pardoned :  "  Every  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be 
forgiven,  except  only  the  blasphemy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  That  shall  never  be  forgiven,  either  in  this 
world  or  in  the  world  to  come."  *  And  therefore  in 
*  St.  Matt.  xii.  31. 


VENIAL    SIN.  73 

one  sense,  and  that  a  general  sense,  every  mortal  sin 
is  venial  in  this  way — that  it  may  be  pardoned  to  the 
trne  penitent  through  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus 
Christ.  But  the  technical  sense  of  the  word  "  venial " 
is  something  precise  and  distinct.  It  means  those 
sins  which  may  be  found  in  souls  that  are  united  withi 
God,  and  are  in  the  grace  of  God,  and  in  the  love  of 
God,  and  in  a  state  of  habitual  obedience.  This 
needs  to  be  more  carefully  explained ;  and  I  am  con- 
scious that  in  explaining  it  I  ought  to  distinguish 
between  venial  sins  and  temptations,  but  time  will 
not  now  suffice.  I  must  hope  hereafter  to  find  an 
occasion  on  which  I  may  speak  of  the  subject  of 
temptation  as  distinct  from  sin.  Therefore,  I  inten- 
tionally set  it  aside  at  present. 

The  sins  which  may  be  found  even  in  holy  men 
are  sins  of  infirmity  committed  through  weakness ; 
or  sins  of  surprise  committed  by  sudden  or  strong 
temptation ;  or  sins  of  impetuosity,  where  passion 
carries  a  man  for  a  moment  beyond  self-control ;  or 
sins  of  indeliberation,  that  is,  done  in  haste,  before 
as  yet  conscience  and  the  reason  have  had  time  to 
deliberate  and  weigh  what  they  are  about ;  or,  lastly,  ■ 
they  may  be  sins  committed  with  some  degree  of 
deliberation.  Now,  the  seven  mortal  sins,  as  they  are 
called,  anger,  pride,   gluttony,  impurity,  ambition, 

jealousy,  and  sloth — these  seven  are  the  capital  sins, 
4 


n 


VENIAL    SIN. 


under  which  almost  every  kind  of  sin  may  ultimately 
be  reduced ;  and  of  those,  six  at  least  may  be  venial. 
The  seventh  is  one  in  which,  if  any  man  sin  delibe- 
rately, with  his  eyes  open,  and  with  the  consent  of  his 
will,  he  can  hardly  be  free  from  mortal  sin,  because 
lightness  of  matter  cannot  be  supposed  in  that  in- 
stance to  exist — I  mean  sins  against  the  holy  virtue 
of  purity.  But  sins  of  anger,  of  pride,  of  gluttony, 
of  ambition,  of  jealousy,  of  sloth,  are  susceptible  of 
degrees  and  shades  and  distinctions ;  and  they  may 
be  committed,  as  I  said  before,  through  infirmity, 
through  surprise,  through  impetuosity,  and  without 
deliberation,  and  even  with  some  degree  of  delibera- 
tion, without  being  mortal.  This  will  explain  what 
we  read  in  Holy  Scripture :  "  The  just  man  falleth 
seven  times."  "  Who  can  understand  sins  ?  From 
my  secret  faults  cleanse  me,  O  Lord."  *  It  is  clear 
that  even  the  saints  of  God,  through  infirmity,  and 
through  temptation,  have  offended  against  God,  and 
yet  they  have  not  broken  their  friendship,  nor 
separated  their  souls  from  Him.  For  example,  all 
those  who  preserve  their  baptismal  innocence  are  in 
a  state  of  union  with  God,  and  all  such  will  be  saved. 
They  are  united  with  God  through  the  indwelling  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  they  are  children  of  God,  and  if 
they  die  they  will  most  assuredly  inherit  the  king- 
*  Prov.  xxiv.  16  ;  Ps.  xviii.  13, 


VENIAL   SIN.  75 

dom  of  heaven.  Nevertheless,  all  those  who  preserve 
their  baptismal  innocence — and  I  trust  that  many 
who  hear  me  have  never  lost  it — are  conscious  while 
they  hear  me  of  the  multitude  of  personal  faults — 
ay,  and  it  may  be  habitual  faults  of  temper,  of  am- 
bition, of  jealousy — of  which  they  are  guilty.  Is 
there  any  one  here  who  will  venture  to  say  he  is  not 
conscious  of  some  besetting  sin,  of  some — ay,  perhaps, 
of  many  faults — and  yet  he  may  still  be  in  the  grace 
of  his  baptism ;  and  of  this  we  may  believe  our  Lord 
spoke  when  He  said  :  "  He  that  is  washed  hath  no 
need  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  he  is  clean  every 
whit."  *  That  is  to  say,  he  has  been  cleansed  in  the 
Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  holy  baptism, 
therefore  those  lesser  sins  are  washed  away  by  sor- 
row, by  contrition,  by  mortification,  and  by  absolu- 
tion. 

Once  more.  I  will  suppose  that  a  man  has  fallen 
from  his  baptismal  grace ;  and  that  through  a  true 
conversion  and  a  real  and  solid  repentance  he  has 
returned  to  God.  Perhaps  some  who  hear  me  are  in 
this  state.  They  are  conscious  that  they  would  rather 
lay  down  their  lives  than  offend  God  again,  in  the 
way  in  which  they  had  offended  Him  before,  never- 
theless they  are  perfectly  conscious  of  a  multitude  of 
faults  against  God  and  their  neighbor ;  and  yet  those 
*  St.  John  xiii.  10. 


76  VENIAL    SIN.  " 

faults  do  not  prevail  to  break  their  union  with  Him, 
nor  to  turn,  away  the  friendship  of  God  from  them, 
and  they  have  not  relapsed  into  their  former  state. 
We  are,  in  fact,  like  soldiers  in  warfare ;  wounded 
we  must  be,  and  spotted  and  spattered  by  the  blood 
of  the  conflict.  We  are  laborers  out  in  the  field,  and 
the  soils  and  stains  of  our  toil  will  cleave  to  us.  We 
are  wayfarers  in  the  road,  and  the  dust  will  settle 
upon  us  even  when  we  do  not  know  it.  We  cannot 
go  out  of  the  world  and  the  world's  evil.  We  are  in 
contact  with  it,  and  it  will  cast  more  than  its  shadow 
upon  us.  It  will  cast  its  stain,  and  the  stain  will 
abide.  The  most  perfect  machine,  constructed  with 
the  most  faultless  accuracy,  if  it  be  jarred  by  a  shock, 
is  at  once  thrown  out  of  gear,  it  loses  its  perfect  ac- 
tion, and  its  motions  become  eccentric.  So  it  is  with 
human  nature.  It  was  created  perfect — in  the  image 
of  God,  with  the  three  perfections,  natural,  super- 
natural, and  preternatural,  of  which  I  have  spoken 
already ;  but  by  the  shock  of  the  Fall  was  thrown  out 
of  gear.  It  became  eccentric,  it  lost  its  rest  upon 
God,  its  true  centre,  and  it  began  to  turn  faultily 
round  itself.  The  three  wounds  of  the  soul — ignor- 
ance in  the  intellect,  turbulence  in  the  passions, 
weakness  in  the  will — are  the  injury  done  to  that 
perfect  machine.  Wherefore,  continually  our  nature 
is  acting  abnormally,  that  is,  in  departure  from  the 


VENIAL    SIN.  77 

law  of  its  Maker.  This  seems  to  be  the  Apostle's 
meaning  when  he  says  :  "  I  know  that  in  me — that 
is,  in  my  flesh— dwelleth  no  good  thing.  For  to  will 
is  present  with  me ;  but  how  to  perform  that  which 
is  good  I  find  not.  For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do 
not ;  bnt  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do.  Now 
if  I  do  that  I  would  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it, 
but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me.  But  I  see  another  law 
in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind, 
and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
which  is  in  my  members.  Unhappy  man  that  I  am, 
who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  % "  * 
These  were  the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the 
Apostle,  and  this  is  precisely  what  I  have  been 
describing.  The  Apostle  was  a  saint  of  God,  in 
union  with  God,  in  friendship  with  God ;  but  he 
was  conscious  that  in  himself  there  was  a  perpetual 
warfare,  a  turbulence  in  his  nature,  a  weakness  in  his 
will ;  yet  those  sinful  emotions,  passions,  and  tempta- 
tions were  not  sins :  only  an  act  of  consent  could 
make  them  sins  in  the  sight  of  God. 

We  have  got,  then,  what  I  may  call  a  definition  of 
venial  sin.  It  is  a  transgression  of  the  law  of  God  ; 
a  thought,  word,  or  deed,  at  variance  with  the  will 
of  God,  through  infirmity,  and  without  deliberate 
malice.  This  will  suffice  to  distinguish  the  sin  which 
*  Rom.  vii.  18-24. 


78  VENIAL   SIN. 

is  not  unto  death  from  that  which  I  described  last 
time,  where,  with  eyes  open  and  willing  consent,  a 
sinner  breaks  the  law  of  God  in  the  face  of  God. 
What  I  have  now  to  point  out  are  the  consequences 
of  these  venial  sins. 

It  is  quite  true  they  do  not  break  our  friendship 
with  God ;  but  do  not  for  one  moment  deceive  your- 
selves by  thinking  that  venial  sins  are  what  are  called 
little  sins.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  little  sin. 
Before  I  have  done,  I  hope  to  convince  you  that  all 
sins  are  great,  even  those  that  are  not  unto  death. 
The  consequences,  then,  of  venial  sins  are  these  : 

1.  First,  venial  sins  diminish  the  grace  of  God  in 
the  soul.  When  theologians  say  that  venial  sins 
diminish  grace,  they  always  make  this  distinction — 
they  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  quantity  of  the 
grace  of  God  is  made  less,  because  the  grace  of  God 
is  like  life,  which  cannot  be  diminished.  We  are 
either  alive  or  dead ;  but  the  living  powers  may  be 
diminished.  Life  remains,  but  the  health  and  the 
vigor  and  the  strength  of  the  living  man  are  lessened. 
Therefore,  the  diminution  of  grace  means,  that  it 
diminishes  the  fervor  and  the  operation  and  energy 
and  efficacy  of  grace.  St.  Bernard  says  that  fervor — 
that  is  to  say,  the  life  of  fidelity  and  obedience — has 
many  effects  ;  and  two  of  those  effects  are  these : 
First,  it  renders  whatever  we  have  to  do  easy  to  us  ; 


VENIAL   SIN.  79 

and,  secondly,  whatever  we  do  easily,  we  do  with 
pleasure,  and  find  a  sweetness  in  it.  They  know  this 
who  have  learned  to  speak  a  foreign  language,  or  to 
use  a  musical  instrument.  Nothing  is  more  tedious, 
repulsive,  or  trying,  than  the  acquisition  either  of  a 
foreign  language  or  of  the  practice  of  music ;  but  the 
moment  we  have  attained  a  certain  facility  in  either, 
there  is  a  sweetness  in  exercising  that  acquired  skill ; 
so  that  we  are  ready  at  all  hours  to  practice  it,  and 
at  every  moment  we  have  a  sensible  enjoyment  in 
making  use  of  the  acquired  faculty.  JSTow,  it  is  just 
so  with  obedience,  with  prayer,  with  mortification, 
which  is  the  most  repulsive  of  all  things  to  our 
nature.  They  who  use  self-denial  and  mortification 
grow  to  love  it,  and  find  a  sweetness  in  it ;  but  the 
moment  they  begin  to  indulge  venial  sins  of  any 
sort  or  kind,  they  begin  to  lose  that  sweetness.  The 
moment  they  begin  to  commit  venial  sins  of  worldli- 
ness,  of  vanity,  of  self-indulgence,  the  palate  becomes 
vitiated,  the  taste  is  spoiled.  The  pure  spiritual 
taste,  which  makes  self-denial  and  prayer  sweet  to 
them,  loses  its  purity,  and  the  world's  excitement, 
pleasure,  vanity,  flattery,  incense,  and  the  like,  be- 
come sweet ;  and  as  these  things  become  sweet,  the 
facility  of  prayer  and  self-denial  is  lost,  and  they 
become  difficult.  A  repugnance  to  them  grows  up ; 
they  are  done  with  effort ;  they  are  postponed  ;  they 


80  VENIAL   SEN". 

are  limited  ;  they  are  restricted  ;  they  are  reduced  to 
a  minimum ;  and,  finally,  the  fervor  of  the  soul  is 
lost. 

What,  then,  is  fervor  ?  It  does  not  mean  emotion. 
Fervor  consists  in  these  three  things :  regularity, 
punctuality,  and  exactness — that  is,  doing  our  duty 
to  God  by  rule ;  doing  it  punctually  at  the  right 
time ;  and  exactly,  that  is,  .as  perfectly  as  we  can. 
But  if  we  have  been  indulging  venial  sins  of  any 
sort  or  kind,  we  begin  to  do  our  duty  towards  God 
in  a  slovenly  way ;  we  neglect  the  right  time ;  we  do 
it  irregularly ;  we  put  God  off  with  an  imperfect 
service.  Those  venial  sins  are  like  the  dust  settling 
upon  the  perfect  machine  of  which  I  spoke.  As  the 
dust  accumulates  upon  the  timepiece,  the  motion  of 
the  timepiece  becomes  slower;  and  as  it  becomes 
sluggish  it  loses  its  perfection.  So,  again,  as  I  said, 
mortal  sin  is  the  death  of  the  soul,  but  venial  sin  is 
the  disease  of  the  soul.  Those  who  willingly  allow 
themselves  to  fall  into  such  infirmities  and  imperfec- 
tions, which  are  not  yet  mortal,  are  like  men  who  are' 
making  bad  blood — men  in  whom  morbid  humors 
are  accumulating  :  a  lingering  malady  is  upon  them, 
through  ill-using  the  vigor  of  their  life.  This  is  the 
first  effect. 

2.  We  are  always  receiving  sufficient  grace  from 
Almighty  God,  who,  in  His  infinite  mercy,  "  maketh 


VENIAL    SIN.  81 

His  sun  to  rise  upon  the  evil  and  the  good,  who  send- 
eth  His  rain  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust."  *  There 
is  a  perpetual  flood  and  inundation  of  the  grace  of 
God,  coming  down  upon  the  whole  race  of  mankind  ; 
but  most  especially  upon  those  who  are  in  the  light 
of  His  faith,  and  in  the  unity  of  His  fold.  Well,  the 
effect  of  these  venial  sins — these  personal  faults,  these 
besetting  infirmities — I  will  not  again  go  into  a  de- 
tailed account,  you  must  individually  examine  your 
hearts,  and  make  application — the  effect  of  these  sins 
is  to  hinder  the  reception  of  grace,  to  shut  grace  out. 
The  Apostle  says,  "  We  are  not  straitened  in  Him, 
we  are  straitened  in  ourselves."  f  If  our  hearts  were 
as  large  as  His  hand,  we  should  be  filled  with  His 
grace ;  but  our  hearts  are  narrow.  The  hands  of 
Almighty  God,  which  are  infinite,  are  perpetually 
pouring  out  grace  upon  us.  It  is  like  the  rain  that 
comes  down  upon  the  sand  of  the  shore,  or  upon  a 
hungry  sea,  or  upon  the  stony  mountains. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  grace  we  are  continually 
receiving :  the  one  is  the  grace  in  the  Sacraments ; 
the  other,  the  grace  out  of  the  Sacraments.  The 
grace  in  the  Sacraments  is  of  two  kinds.  Every 
Sacrament  has  what  is  called  the  grace  of  the  Sacra- 
ment, and  also  the  sacramental  grace.  These  words 
seem  very  much  alike,  but  the  things  are  very  dis- 

*  St.  Matt.  v.  45.  f  2  Cor-  vi- 13« 

4* 


82  VENIAL    SIN. 

tinct.  In  baptism  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament  is  the 
gift  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  soul, 
by  which  we  are  made  children  of  God  :  "  the  grace 
of  adoption,  whereby  we  can  cry  Abba  (Father)."  * 
The  sacramental  grace  is  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
accompanying  that  chief  grace,  whereby  we  are  en- 
abled to  fulfill  all  the  duties  that  belong  to  the  chil- 
dren or  to  the  sons  of  God.  This  is  the  meaning  of 
St.  John,  when  he  says,  "  To  as  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to  be  made  the  sons  of 
God."  f  That  is,  every  baptized  person  has  grace  from 
the  time  of  his  baptism  to  fulfill  every  duty  of  the 
love  of  God  and  of  his  neighbor,  every  duty  of  piety 
towards  God,  every  duty  of  obedience ;  so  that  at  no 
time  in  his  life — childhood,  boyhood,  youth,  or  man- 
hood— will  he  ever  fail  of  doing  his  duty  towards 
God  from  any  lack  or  denial  of  grace  on  God's  part. 
But  those  who,  having  received  the  grace  of  baptism, 
as  I  have  said,  in  this  twofold  sense,  begin  from  early 
childhood  with  all  manner  of  little  faults,  and  grow 
up  to  boyhood  and  youth  with  faults  growing  strong- 
er and  stronger,  and  more  and  more  in  number,  yet 
perhaps  not  arriving  at  sin  unto  death — such  men 
are  continually  choking,  stifling,  keeping  down  the 
working  of  grace  within  them.  So,  again,  in  the 
Sacrament  of  Penance.  Those  who  have  come  to 
*  Rom.  viii.  15.  t  St.  John  i.  12. 


VENIAL    SIN.  83 

the  Sacrament  of  Penance  in  mortal  sin,  and  there- 
fore without  the"  love  of  God,  and  unable  to  bring 
with  them  any  sorrow  whatsoever,  except  the  sorrow 
of  fear  and  hope,  receive  in  the  Sacrament  the  grace 
of  Charity,  that  is,  the  love  of  God  is  restored  to 
them.  Afterwards  they  are  able  to  make  the  acts 
of  contrition  perfect  in  kind,  though  not  perfect  in 
degree,  and  fulfill  all  the  duties  of  a  penitent ;  but 
if  they  begin  to  return  to  their  venial  sins,  to  give 
way  to  their  infirmities,  impetuosities,  and  tempta- 
tions in  the  manifold  kinds  I  have  described,  the 
spirit  of  penance,  contrition,  and  humility  is  hindered 
and  lasts  but  a  little  time. 

Once  more.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
phenomena  of  the  spiritual  life  is  this :  that  whereas 
one  Communion  worthily  made,  in  which  we  receive 
the  Precious  Body  and  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  is 
enough  to  make  us  tabernacles  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  saints ;  there  are  those  who  go  to  Holy  Com- 
munion every  week,  and  perhaps  every  day,  and,  to 
our  shame,  there  are  priests  of  God  who  every  day 
offer  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  and  receive  the  Precious 
Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord,  and  yet  are  not  saints. 
It  is  a  miracle  of  our  insensibility  and  earthliness  that 
we  should  be  what  we  are,  and  yet  be  daily  holding 
in  our  hands  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Jesns  Christ.    Why  is  all  this  ?     The  grace 


84  VENIAL    SIN. 

of  that  Sacrament  is  the  Presence  of  our  Lord — the 
sacramental  grace  is  the  abundance  of  the  outpouring 
of  His  Spirit,  which  accompanies  the  Holy  Sacrament 
as  the  rays  of  the  sun  go  with  the  sun.  Where  the 
sun  is,  the  splendor  of  his  presence  is  besides  ;  and 
if  our  hearts  were  not  narrow  and  cold,  and  choked 
by  a  multitude  of  faults  and  infirmities,  we  should 
be  so  filled  by  one  Communion  that  we  should  be 
elevated  from  the  low  level  on  which  we  are  to  a  life 
that  is  far  above  us. 

Next,  there  are  the  graces  out  of  the  Sacrament. 
There  are  lights  by  which  God  makes  tho  soul  to 
know  His  truth,  and  by  which  he  draws  the  soul  to 
His  presence.  We  read  in  Holy  Scripture  :  "  When 
Thou  hast  said,  Seek  ye  My  face ;  my  heart  said, 
Thy  face,  Lord,  will  I  seek."  If  Such  is  our  answer  ; 
but  it  is  a  ray  of  light  from  Him.  It  is  a  ray  of  the 
light  of  Divine  truth  and  of  the  Divine  grace,  which 
speaks  to  the  intellect  and  the  conscience.  If  we 
would  open  our  intellect  with  sincerity  to  receive  the 
light  of  truth,  and  our  conscience  to  receive  the 
attraction  of  Divine  grace,  it  would  fill  and  illuminate 
us ;  but  by  faults  of  self-indulgence,  worldliness,  f ear 
of  man,  and  human  respect,  we  bring  a  film  over  our 
eyes,  and  the  inward  eye  of  the  intellect  and  con- 
science at  last  loses  its  faculty  of  discernment.     Its 

*  Ps.  xxvi.  8. 


VENIAL    SIN.  85 

sight  is  confused,  like  men  who  have  what  is  called 
color-blindness.  They  cannot  distinguish  colors,  they 
put  red  for  green,  and  green  for  red  ;  and  so  some 
people  "put  light  for  darkness,  and  darkness  for 
light,  and  sweet  for  bitter,  and  bitter  for  sweet,"  as 
the  Prophet  says;  that  is,  confusing  together  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  inspirations  of  nature.  We  all 
are  between  two  attractions ;  there  is  the  attraction 
of  God,  and  the  attraction  of  the  world  ;  and  without 
breaking  with  God,  there  are  multitudes  who  are 
living  under  the  play  and  influence  of  the  world. 
They  would  not  break  with  God  for  anything  that 
could  be  offered,  even  for  the  world  and  all  contained 
therein ;  nevertheless,  they  would  not  break  with 
the  world,  and  they  try  to  do  that  impossible  thing 
— that  is,  to  "  serve  God  and  Mammon."  Thus  they 
are  in  the  condition  of  which  our  Lord  speaks,  when 
He'  says :  "  Behold,  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot. 
I  would  thou  were  cold  or  hot ;  but  because  thou  art 
neither  cold  nor  hot,  but  lukewarm,  I  will  cast  thee 
out  of  My  mouth."  * 

3.  Thirdly,  another  consequence  of  venial  sins  is 
that  they  dispose  the  soul  for  mortal  sin.  Just  as  ail- 
ments and  slight  sicknesses  are  the  forerunners  which 
pull  down  the  strength  and  render  men  susceptible 
of  greater  diseases,  so  lesser  sins  prepare  the  way  for 

*  Apoc.  iii.  15. 


86  VENIAL    SIN. 

greater.      It    is    like,   I  may  say,  the    heaping  up 
fuel. 

Let  me  take  as  an  example  what  we  call  a  smoulder- 
ing temper.  People  who  are  irascible  and  tempted 
to  anger,  though  for  a  long  time  they  fight  against  it, 
afterwards  begin  to  indulge  it,  and  to  allow  the 
smouldering  temper  to  go  on  like  a  charred  beam  in 
a  house,  which  may  smoulder  for  months  before  the 
fire  breaks  out.  Some  day  there  comes  an  occasion 
when  a  temptation  meets  that  smouldering  temper, 
like  letting  air  in  on  the  burning  beam ;  and  the 
whole  soul  is  in  a  blaze,  and  malice,  or  hatred,  or 
resentment,  or  revenge  breaks  out  into  activity. 
Again,  there  are  such  things  as  pattering  lies,  little 
insincerities,  slight  swervings  from  truth.  The  world 
is  full  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  world  is  thick  with 
those  insincerities.  They  may  not  be  unto  death, 
they  may  be  venial,  they  may  be  little  lies  of  courtesy, 
little  falsehoods  of  excuse  ;  but  the  day  comes  when 
this  perverse  habit  of  not  speaking  the  exact  truth 
has  so  confirmed  itself  upon  the  tongue  and  upon  the 
will,  that  upon  an  occasion  in  which  a  man  would 
have  cut  off  his  right  hand  rather  than  have  told  a 
}ie,  he  will  tell  a  lie  boldly,  and  will  stand  to  it.  He 
has  been  long  laying  up  the  fuel  for  this  sin.  Once 
more — but  this  is  an  example  which  I  postpone, 
because  I  shall  have  to  speak  of  the  subject  more 


VENIAL    SEN.  87 

fully — little  negligences  and  omissions  prepare  the 
way  at  last  for  the  mortal  sin  of  sloth. 

More  than  this,  these  venial  sins  have  the  effect  of 
giving  a  perverse  inclination  to  the  will.  If  in  winter- 
time the  rain  descends  upon  the  unfinished  wall  of  a 
house,  soaking  through  to  its  very  core,  and  if  then 
there  come  a  frost,  the  frost  makes  the  wall  swell, 
and  it  loses  its  perpendicular.  The  winter  has  been 
a  still  winter,  and  the  snow  has  fallen  and  the  wind 
has  not  risen.  At  last  comes  the  wintry  wind,  and 
as  the  Prophet  says  :  "  The  breach  in  the  wall  f alleth 
suddenly  when  no  man  looketh  for  it."  *  The  will, 
which  was  once  united  with  God,  and  converted  to 
God,  has  begun  gradually  to  avert  itself  from  God. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  equilibrium  between 
God  and  sin ;  that  cannot  be ;  and  when  the  will- 
loses  its  union  with  God,  it  immediately  inclines 
itself  towards  sin. 

There  is  a  thought  which  is  indeed  terrific,  and 
ought  to  alarm  every  one  of  us  who  are  conscious,  as 
we  are,  of  committing  venial  sins  with  such  facility. 
St.  Theresa  said  :  "  If  I  were  to  commit  venial  sin, 
I  feel  as  if  I  should  die  ;  and  that  because  every  sin 
we  commit,  we  commit  in  God."  It  is  in  God ;  for 
in  Him  we  live,  and  move,  and  are  ;  by  Him  we  are 
sustained ;  our  very  being  is  supported  by  His  being ; 

*  Isa.  xxx.  13. 


88  VENIAL   SIN. 

the  very  power  we  abuse,  when  we  transgress  His 
law,  is  power  He  has  lent  to  us,  as  the  Prophet  says : 
"  You  made  Me  to  serve  with  your  sins,  and  wearied 
Me  with  your  iniquities."  *  That  is,  God  is  physic- 
ally united  with  us,  even  in  the  very  actions  we  do 
against  Him.  We  use  the  powers  of  nature  against 
the  will  of  God  in  His  grace.  Therefore  it  is  that 
these  venial  sins,  as  they  are  called,  are  in  themselves 
great,  as  you  will  see  hereafter ;  and  they  dispose 
the  soul  towards  greater  sin  for  this  reason,  that  they 
keep  up  the  trade  of  sinning,  they  "blunt  the  con- 
science, they  bring  on  insensibility,  they  cloud  the 
presence  of  God,  they  familiarize  us  with  abusing  the 
power  which  God  has  given  us,  against  Himself. 

4.  Then,  fourthly,  such  sins  displease  God ;  and 
can  any  sin  be  small  which  displeases  God  1  When 
we  walk  about  at  noonday,  we  walk  about  in  the  full 
splendor  of  the  noonday  light — we  are  bathed  in  it, 
encompassed  by  it — we  cannot  escape  from  it,  go 
where  we  may — if  we  go  on  the  north  side  of  a  wall, 
the  light  is  still  there.  So  it  is  with  the  presence  of 
God.  All  our  deeds,  words,  and  thoughts  are  in  the 
presence  of  God ;  in  the  light  of  the  rays  of  the 
Divine  holiness,  justice,  truth,  mercy,  which  inundate 
the  soul  as  the  light  of  the  noonday  inundates  the 
world.     Everything  we  do,  we  do   before  Him,  of 

*  Isa.  xliii.  24. 


VENIAL    SIN".  89 

whom  St.  John  says  :  "  His  eyes  are  like  a  flame  of 
fire."  *  We  displease  God,  then,  as  our  Father  and 
as  our  Maker.  We  knowingly  displease  Him  by  un- 
grateful and  unfilial  disobedience.  It  is  as  if  the 
Prodigal,  after  his  return  home  and  after  being  re- 
invested with  the  "  first  robe,  and  the  ring  on  his 
hand,  shoes  on  his  feet,"  and  after  receiving  the 
"  kiss  of  peace,"  had  again  begun,  and  with  his  eyes 
open,  to  murmur  and  complain  at  his  father's  will. 
We  displease  also  our  Divine  Redeemer,  who  died 
for  us,  our  Divine  Friend,  and  we  displease  Him  by 
mean,  treacherous,  tricky,  and  hateful  violations  of 
the  duties  of  friendship.  And,  thirdly,  we  displease 
and  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost ;  ay,  we  grieve  the  Holy 
Ghost  by  things  which  we  think  splendid,  noble, 
laudable,  admirable.  I  will  give  you  some  examples. 
In  society,  a  man  is  thought  dull  and  stupid  who 
cannot  talk  about  his  neighbor,  and  satirically  de- 
scribe, and  make  others  laugh  at  his  humorous 
descriptions  of  the  failings  and  faults,  and  sometimes 
of  the  sins,  of  those  that  are  known  to  him.  A  man 
that  is  simple  in  his  conversation  and  bridles  his 
tongue  is  a  dull  companion.  He  chills  society.  They 
are  the  most  popular  in  society  who  have  no  bridle 
in  their  mouth,  who  will  say  anything,  criticize  any- 
body, ridicule  all  things,  dress  up  and  satirize  every 

*  Apoc.  i.  14. 


90  VENIAL    SIN. 

person,  every  event,  and  every  scandal  of  the  day. 
These  are  the  entertaining  men  in  society ;  these  are 
the  men  that  make  their  way.  I  should  like  to  know, 
when  they  go  home  at  night,  how  many  sins  of  the 
tongue  have  been  written  down  in  the  book  of  God's 
remembrance ;  and  I  should  like  to  know  how  many 
sins  of  listening  to  that  detraction,  and  encouraging 
it  by  curiosity  and  laughter,  have  been  written  down 
also  in  the  page  of  remembrance  for  those  who  heard 
it.  Take  another  example — those  who  go  into  the 
world,  dressed  out  in  the  vanity  and  folly  and  osten- 
tation of  what  is  called  "fashion."  I  wonder  by 
what  name  it  will  be  known  in  the  Last  Judgment. 
"  Fashion "  is  a  word  in  the  mouths  of  men  and 
women — have  the  Holy  Angels  got  any  equivalent 
word,  and  will  "fashion"  be  written  down  in  the 
book  of  God's  remembrance  ?  What  will  it  be 
called  ?  Yanity,  willful  tempting  of  others,  vain- 
glory, luxury,  self -exhibition ;  ay,  and  that  often  to 
the  peril  and  danger  of  those  who  look  on.  You 
have  seen  what  looks  like  bloom  upon  the  fruit.  It 
is  not  bloom,  but  blight.  This  blight  upon  the  social 
characters  of  those  who  please  the  world  is  thought 
to  be  a  perfection  ;  but  if  you  take  a  microscope,  and 
if  you  look  at  that  false  bloom,  you  will  see  that  it 
is  alive.  It  is  a  vile  blight,  it  is  an  animal  disease, 
eating  the  fruit ;  and  if  the  microscope  is  powerful 


VENIAL    SIN.  91 

enough,  and  the  light  is  clear  enough,  you  will  see 
the  miserable  parasites  moving  in  all  their  repulsive 
reality.  What,  I  ask,  are  these  venial  sins  of  vanity, 
of  pride,  of  detraction,  and  others  which  I  will  not 
specify — what  are  they  ?  I  will  call  them  by  their 
true  name — the  vermin  of  the  human  soul.  They 
are  the  worms  of  death — the  worms  that  will  feed 
on  the  body  are  but  typical  of  the  vermin  on  the 
human  soul ;  and  in  the  light  of  God's  presence 
they  are  seen  at  this  moment,  as  the  blight  on  the 
fruit  through  the  lens,  and  so  they  will  be  seen  by 
us  in  all  their  deformity  in  the  light  of  the  Day  of 
Judgment. 

5.  Lastly,  there  is  one  other  effect  of  venial  sin,  of 
which  I  will  speak.  Just  as  a  small  ailment  may  be- 
come a  mortal  sickness,  so  a  venial  sin  may  become 
a  mortal  sin,  and  that  with  great  facility.  Not  that 
any  number  of  venial  sins,  if  they  be  heaped  to- 
gether, would  make  a  mortal  sin  ;  because,  as  I  have 
shown  you  from  the  first,  mortal  sins  consist  in  their 
malice,  and  venial  sins  are  without  this  deliberate 
malice ;  but  they  may  put  off  their  character  and 
stature  of  venial  sins,  and  they  may  put  on  the  char- 
acter and  rise  to  the  stature  of  deadly  sins.  This 
they  do  in  five  ways.  First  of  all,  a  venial  sin  may 
be  committed  with  the  intention  of  covering  or  ac- 
complishing some  mortal  sin,  and  then  it  is  mortal 


92  VENIAL    SIN. 

too.  Or,  secondly,  it  may  be  committed  with  a  con- 
sciousness that  it  will  certainly  lead  to  a  mortal  sin, 
and  yet,  nevertheless,  is  persevered  in.  Or,  thirdly, 
it  may  be  done  with  a  knowledge  of  God's  prohibi- 
tion, with  an  open-eyed  consciousness,  and  out  of 
contempt  of  just  authority.  Or,  fourthly,  it  may  be 
so  publicly  and  notoriously  done,  as  to  give  scandal 
to  others,  and  to  encourage  and  invite  them  to  com- 
mit grave  sin.  Or,  lastly,  it  may  be  done  in  the 
proximate  peril  of  falling  into  mortal  sin,  and  that 
with  our  eyes  open  ;  and  thus  to  expose  ourselves  to 
mortal  sin  is  mortal  in  itself.  Now,  to  give  an 
example  of  what  I  mean.  Suppose  a  man  to  tell  a 
lie  in  a  very  light  matter — some  little  deceit.  He  is 
asked,  "  Is  such  a  one  in  this  place  % "  He  answers, 
"  ~No  ; "  because  he  intends  thereby  to  cover  and  to 
commit  a  mortal  sin.  The  two  tins  then  become 
one.  Or,  if  I  take  a  book — some  book  of  levity, 
which  may  not  in  itself  be  positively  wrong — I  begin 
to  read  it  on  a  Sunday  morning,  and  I  am  deter- 
mined I  will  finish  it ;  and  I  know  that  in  half-an- 
hour  it  is  my  duty  to  go  to  Holy  Mass.  I  am  bound 
under  the  strictest  obedience,  under  mortal  sin,  to 
obey  the  precept  of  the  Church,  and  nevertheless  I 
go  on  reading,  indulging  myself,  disregarding  my 
duty,  until  at  last  I  turn  my  back  on  our  Divine 
Lord.     Or,  let  me  suppose  that  I  am  reading  a  book, 


VENIAL   SIN.  93 

and  as  I  read  on,  I  become  conscious  that  the  matter 
of  it  is  contrary  to  the  revelation  or  the  holiness  of 
God.  Now,  the  world  is  full  of  books  that  are  writ- 
ten against  Christianity.  There  are  the  criticisms  of 
rationalists,  and  the  scoffs  of  false  science.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me.  All  true  science  comes  from 
God.  "We  have  no  fear  of  science  in  all  its  perfec- 
tion ;  but  there  is  a  science,  falsely  so  called,  which 
is  a  stupidity.  A  science  which  is  contrary  to  the 
revelation  of  God  is  not  a  science.  Suppose,  then, 
I  have  a  book  in  my  hand,  with  some  unbelieving 
criticisms,  or  rationalistic  interpretations,  or  argu- 
ments against  revelation,  or  some  misapplications  of 
science  with  false  data,  to  prove  that  the  world  was 
not  created,  or  is  eternal,  and  the  like.  I  come 
gradually  upon  this  matter ;  and  if  I  act  upon  my 
faith  and  conscience,  I  should  put  that  book  down. 
I  know  that  whatever  is  contrary  to  the  revelation 
of  God  may  destroy  my  faith ;  but  if  I  go  on 
curiously  reading  it,  without  call  of  duty,  with  the 
light  of  God  and  His  revelation  shining  in  judgment 
on  the  page  of  the  book,  I  am  tempting  God.  And 
I  will  further  suppose  that  standing  by  me  are  some 
who  look  up  to  me  as  an  example,  as  children  look 
up  to  their  fathers  and  mothers,  or  younger  brothers 
and  sisters  to  their  elder.  They  see  me  poring  over 
that  book,  and  I  go  on  doing  so  in  their  sight ;  will 


94  VENIAL    SIN. 

they  not  do  the  same  when  I  have  left  the  room  ? 
and  have  I  not  set  them  the  example,  for  the  con- 
sequences of  which  I  shall  have  to  answer  at  the  Day 
of  Judgment  ?  Or,  lastly,  suppose  I  know  perfectly 
well  the  book  I  am  reading  will  turn  up  in  two  or 
three  pages  some  abomination,  such  as  are  profusely 
written — not,  I  thank  God,  so  much  in  this  country 
as  in  a  country  not  far  off,  and  yet  profusely  imported 
into  this.  I  grieve  to  know  that  on  the  tables  in 
families  and  homes,  where  the  Name  of  G-od  is 
honored,  there  lie  books  which  ought  to  be  burned, 
ay,  and  burned  with  the  marks  of  public  infamy ; 
not  burned  simply  that  they  may  disappear  in  smoke, 
but  that  they  may  be  gibbeted  and  condemned  by 
the  detestation  of  all  pure-minded  men  and  women. 
If  I  have  one  of  those  in  my  hand,  and  know  if  I 
read  on  I  shall  meet  these  abominations  face  to  face, 
and  yet  continue  to  read,  I  am  exposing  myself  to  a 
danger  of  mortal  sin.  My  mind  may  be  stained  by 
the  abomination  of  that  book ;  and,  as  a  man  that 
touches  a  leper  may  be  infected,  and  may  never  be 
healed,  if  I  make  my  mind  leprous,  the  scales  of 
that  leprosy  may  never  be  cleansed  away. 

That  which  begins  as  a  venial  sin  may  easily  end 
in  mortal.  There  are  two  other  examples  I  would 
fain  give  if  time  would  permit  me.  The  one  is 
theatres.      I  do  not  deny  that  theatres  may  be  in- 


VENIAL   SIN.  95 

nocent — that  to  go  to  a  theatre  may  be  lawful.  I 
have  been  often  asked,  during  the  long  years  of  my 
duty  in  directing  souls,  whether  it  is  lawful  to  go  to 
a  theatre.  My  answer  has  been  always,  If  the  rerJf  e- 
sentation  is  not  bad  in  itself,  I  cannot  forbid  you. 
If  you  ask  me  what  I  advise,  I  say,  without  hesita- 
tion, Do  not  go.  I  cannot  lay  it  upon  you  as  a 
prohibition.  This,  I  know,  will  sound  rigorous ; 
nevertheless,  it  is  the  better  choice ;  it  is  the  more 
excellent  way.  I  do  not  say  it  is  the  way  of  obliga- 
tion. The  Apostle  says,  "All  things  to  me  are  law- 
ful, but  all  things  are  not  expedient ; "  *  therefore, 
I  distinguish  and  say  :  Those  things  which  are  lawful 
I  cannot  forbid ;  but  those  things,  though  not  for- 
bidden, I  counsel  you  with  all  my  heart  to  renounce. 
As  to  theatres,  there  may  be,  indeed,  innocent  repre- 
sentations ;  but  I  ask  your  own  consciences,  look 
over  the  representations  which  in  a  country,  as  I  say, 
not  far  off,  during  this  last  winter,  have  been  de~ 
scribed  to  us  by  eye-witnesses.  No  man  who  has  a 
pure  heart,  no  man  whose  face  is  susceptible  of  the 
noblest  and  manliest  suffusion,  of  a  blush,  could,  if 
he  remember  himself,  set  his  foot  in  any  theatre 
where  such  a  representation  is  to  be  seen — I  will  not 
say  no  woman ;  I  leave  that  to  yourselves.  As  to 
our  own  theatres,  I  thank  God  it  is  not  often  they 

*  1  Cor.  vi.  12. 


96  VENIAL    SIN. 

are  openly  and  publicly  stained.  Such  things  happen 
sometimes.  Such  scandals  are  imported  among  us : 
it  is  not  only  English  dramas  that  are  presented  to 
us*  I  leave  the  whole  of  this  to  your  own  con- 
sciences, saying  only  that  I  would  to  God  that  those 
who  can  refrain  from  such  things,  as  an  offering  to 
our  Divine  Redeemer,  would  refrain  forever.  When 
people  say,  "  It  does  me  no  harm,"  I  say  to  myself, 
"  You  do  not  know  what  harm  it  does  you.  You 
are  not  conscious  how  much  has  been  taken  off  from 
the  bloom  of  your  mind,  or  from  the  clear  purity  of 
your  eye  and  heart,  by  what  you  have  seen,  heard, 
and  been  conscious  of,  even  though  it  has  neither 
met  the  ear  nor  the  eye." 

One  more  example.     If  there  is  anything  in  the 
» 

world  which  causes  deterioration  of  character,  mani- 
fold temptation,  obscuration  of  mind,  darkening  and 
tainting  of  heart,  it  is  dangerous  friendships.  The 
friends  we  choose — friends  that  are  pleasant  to  us  or 
flatter  us,  whose  heart  within,  though  known  to  God, 
is  not  suspected  by  men,  and  yet  perhaps  known  to 
us — may  be  a  world  of  temptation.  Choose  your 
friends  from  among  the  friends  of  God.  Be  not 
united  with  any  that  are  separated  from  Him ;  for 
they  will  breathe  into  your  ear,  while  you  are*  un- 
conscious, that  which  will  pervade  your  whole 
spiritual  being.     All  the  dangerous  temptations  that 


VENIAL    SIN.  97 

you  are  likely  to  be  exposed  to — books,  theatres, 
and  the  like — are  as  nothing  compared  to  a  danger- 
ous friendship. 

I  will  now  simply  sum  up  what  I  have  said.  The 
consequences  of  venial  sins  are,  first  of  all,  diminu- 
tion of  grace,  the  hindrance  of  the  reception  and- 
operation  of  grace,  the  predisposing  of  the  soul  to 
mortal  sin,  the  displeasing  of  God  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  unspeakable  facility  with 
which  those  venial  sins  may  pass  into  mortal. 

In  the  commencement,  I  said  I  hoped  to  satisfy 
you  before  I  finished,  that  venial  sins  are  not  small 
sins.  Not  many  words  are  necessary.  No  sin  can 
be  small  which  is  a  great  offence  against  a  great  God 
— against  a  great  majesty,  a  great  authority,  a  great 
purity,  a  great  justice,  a  great  truth.  No  sins  can 
be  small  which  can  only  be  cleansed  away  in  the 
Precious  Blood  of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God.  No  ; 
not  the  least  venial  sin  that  was  ever  committed  can 
be  absolved  but  through  the  Precious  Blood  which 
was  shed  upon  the  Cross.  Little  sins !  God  have 
mercy  on  those  who  talk  this  language  !  Once 
more.  The  least  venial  sin  grieves  the  Holy  Ghost.  * 
Can  any  sin  be  small  which  grieves  the  Spirit  of 
God,  of  whom  it  is  said,  "All  sin  and  blasphemy 
shall  be  forgiven  unto  men,  save  only  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  ? "     Lastly,  the  venial  sins 


98  VENIAL    SIN. 

we  so  easily  commit  will  detain  us  from  the  Vision 
of  God  after  death,  we  know  not  how  long.  Though 
they  do  not,  like  mortal  sin,  separate  us  from  the 
Vision  of  God  to  all  eternity,  they  will,  we  know 
not  how  long,  separate  us  until  every  pain  has  been 
borne,  and  every  sin  has  been  expiated. 

My  last  word,  dear  brethren,  shall  be  very  prac- 
tical. Disorderlv  minds — that  is,  minds  that  live 
without  rule,  minds  that  have  no  order  in  their  life 
— are  always  in  danger  of  venial  sins,  and  there- 
fore of  mortal — always  walking  on  the  brink  of  the 
precipice,  always  on  the  very  verge,  always  putting 
their  foot  into  the  net.  Now,  I  will  give  you  one  easy 
rule  of  practice.  Every  day  of  your  life  place  your- 
selves, as  I  have  said,  under  that  noonday  sun  of 
God's  perfections,  and  pray  to  God  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  illuminate  your  hearts  with  such  a  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  yourselves,  that,  in  the  light  of  His  per- 
fection, you  may  see  the  least  deviation  of  your 
thoughts,  words,  and  deeds  from  His  holy  will. 
There  was  a  time  when  you — every  one  of  you — were 
white  as  snow,  in  your  baptismal  innocence  you  were 
spotless  ;  you  had  not  then  a  stain  !  The  Precious 
Blood  had  cleansed  away  original  sin,  and  as  yet  you 
had  not  contracted  mortal  sin,  and  perhaps  in  your 
childhood  few  venial  sins.  In  the  sight  of  the  Judge, 
in  the  sight  of  your  Redeemer,  what  are  you  now  % 


VENIAL   SIN.  99 

What  spots,  what  stains  dark  as  night  and  red 
as  scarlet !  How  is  all  that  beauty  and  whiteness 
destroyed  by  ill  habits,  not  of  mortal  sin — remem- 
ber, I  am  not  speaking  of  that  now — by  tempers, 
jealousies,  envy,  sloth,  neglect  of  God, .  self -indul- 
gence !  The  examples  I  have  given  are  sufficient — 
sins  of  the  tongue,  sins  of  personal  ostentation,  sins 
of  reading,  sins  of  worldly  pleasure,  sins  of  dangerous 
friendship.  What  are  you  now  %  Where  is  the 
white  robe  of  your  baptism  %  Unless  a  life  of  pen- 
ance, self-denial,  generous  sorrow  shall  cleanse  away 
those  stains  in  this  life,  there  remains  but  one  way 
in  which  those  spots  can  be  cleansed.  Hear  the 
Word  of  God :  "  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay 
than  that  which  is  laid ;  which  is  Jesus  Christ.  JSTow 
if  any  man  build  upon  this  foundation  gold,  silver, 
precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble,  every  man's  work 
shall  be  made  manifest ;  for  the  day  shall  declare  it, 
because  it  shall  be  revealed  by  fire ;  and  the  fire  shall 
try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is.  If  any 
man's  work  abide  which  he  hath  built  thereupon,  he 
shall  receive  a  reward.  If  any  man's  work  shall  be 
burned,  he  shall  suffer  loss "  (therefore  those  words 
are  spoken  not  of  mortal  sinners,  those  words  are 
altogether  spoken  of  those  who  have  upon  them  only 
venial  sins)  ;  "  but  he  himself  shall  be  saved,  yet  so 
as  by  fire."  * 

*  1  Cor.  iii.  11-15. 


IV. 
SINS  OF  OMISSION. 


SINS    OF    OMISSION. 


Who  can  understand  sins  ?  From  my  secret  sins  cleanse  me, 
O  God.    PsAiiM  viii.  13. 

If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  knowledge  of  the  intellect 
and  the  consent  of  the  will  be  necessary  to  constitute 
a  sin,  how  can  there  be  secret  sins — how*can  there 
be  sins  which  we  do  not  know  ?  First,  because  we 
may  have  committed  what  we  have  afterwards  for- 
gotten, which  thus  becomes  secret  to  us,  but  is  yet 
recorded  in  the  book  of  God's  remembrance.  Next, 
we  may  only  half  understand  the  sinfulness  of  that 
which  we  do,  and  one-half  of  our  guilt  is  secret  from 
us.  Again,  through  a  culpable  ignorance  of  our- 
selves, we  do  not  know  how  often  we  offend  God. 
We  read  in  Holy  Scripture  these  words,  which  at 
first  sight  are  most  alarming :  "  There  are  wise  men, 
and  there  are  just  men,  and  their  work  is  in  the 
hand  of  God ;  yet  no  man  knoweth  whether  he  be 
worthy  of  love  or  hatred."*  That  is,  even  the  just 
man,  even  the  wise  man,  even  the  man  that  does 

*  Eccles.  ix.  1. 

(103) 


104  SINS    OF   OMISSION. 

many  works  which  are  remembered  before  God,  even 
he  cannot  know  with  a  perfect  consciousness  whether 
in  the  sight  of  God  he  be  an  object  of  love  or  an 
object  of  hatred ;  and  that  because  in  the  light  of 
the  presence  of  God  sins  which  are  perfectly  invisi- 
ble to  us — sins  of  thought,  word,  and  deed  which,  in 
the  twilight  of  our  conscience,  in  the  confusion  of 
our  soul — are  secret  to  us,  are  visible  to  God.  They 
who  know  this  best  can  only  have  the  confidence  of 
hope  that  their  sins  before  God  are  forgiven.  They 
have  no  revelation  of  it,  and  therefore  they  cannot 
know  it  with  a  Divine  certainty ;  and  that  which  we 
do  not  know  with  a  Divine  certainty,  we  can  only 
know  by  a  trust  of  confidence  and  hope  springing 
from  the  promises  of  God,  and  the  consciousness  of 
our  own  soul.  This  must  be  manifest  to  every  one 
who  at  all  knows  himself.  He  knows  that  the  leaves 
which  fall  from  the  trees  in  autumn  are  not  more 
in  multitude  than  the  words  we  scatter  every  day ; 
that  the  lights  of  the  sun,  glancing  to  and  fro  all 
the  day  long,  are  not  more  multitudinous  than  the 
thoughts  perpetually  rising  in  our  hearts;  that  the 
motion  of  the  sea,  or  the  restlessness  of  the  air,  is 
not  more  continuous  than  the  working  of  our  ima- 
gination, our  heart,  our  affections,  our  passions ;  and 
in  this  mystery,  this  confusion  of  our  being,  who  is 
there  that  will  venture  to  say  that  the  good  pre- 


SINS   OF   OMISSION.  105 

dominates  over  the  evil,  the  light  over  the  darkness, 
and  that  in  the  sight  of  God  he  is  an  object  of  love 
rather  than  of  hatred  ?  Now  I  have  felt  that  our  sub- 
jects hitherto  have  been  of  a  severe  kind,  and  the 
subject  that  we  have  now  will  not  be  less  so ;  but 
hereafter  I  hope  we  shall  be  able  to  pass  on  to  the 
grace  and  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to 
the  consolations  for  which  all  that  I  have  said  is  but 
the  preparation.  We  are  approaching  to  our  Easter 
joys ;  that  is,  to  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  to  the  perfect  absolution  of  sin,  which  He  has 
laid  up  for  all  those  who  are  penitent.  Let  me,  then, 
take  up  and  complete  this  last  part  of  what  I  have 
said. 

We  have  already  seen  t  e  nature  of  sins  of  com- 
mission. They  are  either  the  mortal  sins,  which 
separate  the  soul  from  God  in  this  life,  and,  if  not 
repented  of,  in  the  life  to  come;  or  they  are  the 
venial  sins,  which  are  the  disease  though  they  are  not 
the  death  of  the  soul;  and  these  are  the  greatest 
evils,  next  after  mortal  sin,  that  the  heart  of  man 
can  conceive.  They  are  the  preludes  of  mortal  sin  in 
many,  and  are  punished  by  detention  from  the  vision 
of  God,  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  world  to  come. 
This,  then,  was  the  first  part  of  our  subject;  the 
last  part  will  be  sins  of  omission.  The  first  was,  the 
sin  of  doing  evil ;  the  last,  the  sin  of  leaving  good 


106  SINS   OF   OMISSION. 

undone.  Now  let  me  suppose  that  which  is  intellec- 
tually conceivable,  though  it  has  never  existed;  let 
me  suppose  a  soul  created  in  the  likeness  of  God, 
and  committing  no  sin,  but  bearing  no  fruit.  This 
is  precisely  the  state  described  in  the  parable  of  the 
barren  tig-tree.  The  tree  was  alive,  the  root  strong 
and  in  the  ground,  the  branches  were  covered  with 
leaves  ;  but  when,  year  after  year,  the  fruit  was 
sought,  none  was  to  be  found.  This  is  a  parable  and 
description  of  a  soul,  alive  indeed,  but  not  fulfilling 
the  end  of  its  creation.  And  for  what  end  was  the 
soul  created?  To  know,  to  love,  to  serve,  to  wor- 
ship, and  to  be  made  like  to  God ;  and  a  soul  that 
does  not  fulfill  the  end  of  its  creation,  that  does  not 
know  and  love  and  serve  and  worship  God,  and  is 
not  likened  and  assimilated  to  God  its  Maker  and 
its  Original — that  soul,  not  fulfilling  the  end  of  its 
creation,  would  therefore  be  in  a  state  of  condem- 
nation, and  the  words  of  the  parable  would  be  true 
and  just :  "  Cut  it  down.  Why  cumbereth  it  the 
ground  ?  "* 

We  are  bound  by  three  obligations  to  glorify  God 
by  fulfilling  the  end  of  our  creation.  First,  by  the 
law  of  our  creation  itself.  We  were  created  to  glorify 
Him  by  a  life  of  obedience  as  much  as  the  earth  was 
created  to  bear  fruit,  and  the  firmament  to  give  light. 
*  St.  Luke  xiii.  7. 


SINS   OF   OMISSION.  107 

If  the  firmament  were  turned  into  darkness,  and  the 
earth  into  desolation,  it  would  not  fulfill  the  end  for 
which  it  was  made ;  and  so,  too,  with  the  soul  that 
does  not  glorify  God.  Again,  we  are  bound  to  glo- 
rify God  by  a  direct  commandment,  and  that  direct 
commandment  is  written  in  the  Decalogue  and  in 
the  two  precepts  of  charity :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  thy  whole  heart,  with  thy  whole 
soul,  with  thy  whole  mind,  with  thy  whole  strength, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."*  And  we  are  bound 
to  fulfill  these  two  precepts  of  charity  under  pain,  of 
eternal  death.  There  is  also  a  third  obligation — 
not  indeed  binding  under  pain  of  eternal  death,  a 
law  of  which  I  shall  speak  hereafter — and  that  is  the 
law  of  liberty — the  law  of  love,  of  gratitude,  and 
of  generous  freedom,  which  is  written  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  on  the  heart  of  all  those  who,  being  born 
again  in  Baptism,  are  united  to  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  by  the  bond  of  charity.  Sins 
of  omission  are  against  either  the  law  of  our  crea- 
tion, or  the  law  of  the  two  precepts  of  charity,  or 
against  the  law  of  liberty.  If  we  leave  undone  the 
good  or  the  duties  to  whieh  we  are  bound  by  those 
obligations,  we  commit  sins  of  omission.  I  have 
already  shown  how  sins  that  are  venial  lead  to  sins 
that  are  mortal,  so  I  will  now  show  how  sins  of 
*  St.  Matt.  xxii.  37,  39. 


108  SINS    OF   OMISSION. 

omission  lead  on  to  sins  of  commission.  They  are 
the  beaten  pathway  which  leads  to  actual  sins.  Now 
sins  of  omission,  or  the  leaving  duty  undone,  may 
indeed  arise  from  any  one  of  the  seven  capital  sins : 
and  then  it  is  also  a  sin  of  commission.  A  son  may 
omit  his  duty  to  his  father  through  anger.  The  sin 
of  anger  adds  a  sin  of  commission.  So  I  might  take 
examples  from  the  others ;  but  I  will  select  one  only, 
and  that  because  it  has  the  greatest  affinity  to  sins 
of  ommission ;  I  mean  the  sin  of  sloth. 

We  understand  at  once  that  pride,  anger,  jeal- 
ousy, and  the  like,  may  be  mortal  sins,  because  we  can 
understand  their  intrinsic  hatefulness  and  guilt ;  but 
sometimes  men  say,  "  How  can  a  sin  of  sloth  be  mor- 
tal ?  "  "We  must  therefore  distinguish.  The  sin  of 
slothfulness  is  not  mortal  except  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances ;  but  a  state  of  sloth  and  a  habit  of  sloth 
is  certainly  a  mortal  sin.  We  must  therefore  distin- 
guish between  slothfulness  and  sloth,  Slothfulness  is 
the  habit  or  state  of  the  soul,  tending  towards  the  last 
mortal  state  of  sloth,  which  I  will  describe  hereafter. 
Let  us  take  this  as  our  example,  and  I  will  show 
how  this  slothfulness  leads  to  sins  of  omission,  and 
how  these  sins  of  omission  lead  to  sins  of  com- 
mission, and  how  these  sins  of  commission  at  last 
terminate  in  the  mortal  sin  of  sloth. 

1.  Suppose,  then,  some  Christian,  who  is  in  the 


SINS   OF   OMMISSION.  109 

state  of  grace  and  communion  with  God,  living  in 
charity,  in  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  his  neigh- 
bor— that  is,  leading  a  good  and  pions  life.  One  of 
the  chief  duties  which  he  will  punctually  and  care- 
fully fulfill  is  the  duty  of  prayer.  You  will  remem- 
ber in  the  Book  of  Acts,  when  Saul  the  persecutor 
was  converted  by  a  special  miracle,  the  sign  given 
of  his  conversion  was  this  :  "  Behold  he  prayeth."  * 
Prayer  is  the  breath  of  the  soul.  Just  as  breathing 
is  the  sign  of  life,  prayer  is  the  sign  of  the  life  of  the 
soul.  Prayer  means  the  union  of  the  soul  with  God, 
the  converse  of  the  soul  with  God,  the  soul  speaking 
with  God,  "  ascending  to  God,"  as  St.  Augustine 
says,  "  by  thought,"  that  is,  in  meditation  ;  "  by  the 
affections,"  that  is,  in  worship ;  and  "  by  the  will," 
that  is,  making  resolutions  of  obedience.  Every  day, 
a  man  who  is  a  Christian,  and  living  in  a  state  of 
grace,  will  pray  to  Almighty  God,  not  only  morning 
and  night,  but  at  other  times  in  the  day.  Prayer 
will  be  his  habit.  Now,  what  is  the  effect  of  sins  of 
omission  in  respect  of  prayer  %  Let  me  suppose  that 
business,  professions,  pleasure,  worldly  distractions, 
begin  to  break  the  habit  of  prayer.  Perhaps  at  first 
a  man  only  shortens  his  prayers;  or  he  does  not 
even  shorten  them,  he  says  them  more  hastily.  He 
says  them  materially  as  before,  but  not  mentally,  for 

*  Acts  ix.  11. 


110  SINS   OF   OMISSION. 

his  heart  is  somewhere  else.  He  is  in  haste,  and 
though  he  repeats  literally  his  usual  prayers,  his 
heart  is  far  off :  or,  at  least,  he  ceases  to  pray  with  the 
same  sweetness  and  goodwill  and  fixedness  and  recol- 
lection. Here  is  an  example  of  a  sin  of  omission 
which  is  very  common.  I  do  not  take  the  example 
of  a  man  giving  up  his  prayers — that  stands  to  reason 
— but  even  if  he  begins  to  omit  the  fervor  and  recol- 
lection with  which  he  says  his  prayers,  what  does  it 
lead  on  to  ?  A  certain  wandering  of  the  mind,  a 
multiplicity  of  thoughts  which  crowd  upon  him ;  the 
associations,  which  glance  off,  as  it  were,  from  every 
angle  of  his  memory  and  of  his  intellect.  His  mind 
is  full  of  colors  cast  in  from  the  world,  even  while 
kneeling  before  God.  Little  by  little  his  mind  gets 
the  habit  of  wandering,  and  then  he  begins  to  com- 
plain that  he  cannot  pray.  When  he  kneels  down,  his 
heart  is  in  his  house  of  business,  or  in  the  pleasures 
of  last  night,  or  in  the  amusements  of  to-morrow. 
He  js,  as  we  say,  in  the  state  of  distraction  or  of  dis- 
sipation ;  his  mind  is  scattered,  he  has  lost  his  recol- 
lection. What  is  the  next  step  ?  He  begins  to  talk 
much,  to  scatter  his  words  without  consideration.  A 
man  of  prayer  has  a  habit  of  weighing,  of  measuring 
his  words.  As  he  has  the  habit  of  prayer,  so  he  will 
have  the  habit  of  silence ;  he  will  be  what  we  call 
an  interior  man.     His  mind  will  be  turned  in  on 


SINS    OF    OMISSION.  Ill 

itself.  He  will  not  be  a  chatterer ;  but  men  who 
begin  to  lose  their  habit  of  recollection  before  God 
become  chatterers  among  men.  Solitude  becomes 
irksome ;  to  be  alone  is  torment ;  to  be  silent  is  a 
pain — he  must  be  always  speaking.  An  uneasiness 
of  being  alone  with  themselves  makes  such  men 
seek  for  society ;  and  a  desire  to  get  rid  of  uneasy 
recollections  makes  them  continually  talk :  and  in 
this  way  they  commit  a  multitude  of  faults  by 
their  tougue.  But  for  every  idle  word  that  men 
shall  speak,  they  shall  account  in  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment.* "Well,  there  is  worse  than  this.  St.  Paul 
of  the  Cross  used  to  say  to  those  about  him,  "  Stay 
at  home ;  stay  at  home."  When  they  asked,  "  "What 
do  you  mean  ?  Am  I  never  to  go  out  of  my  house  ?" 
he  would  answer  them,  "  Stay  in  the  solitude  of  your 
own  heart  before  God,  and  keep  three  lamps  always 
burning  before  the  altar — faith,  hope,  and  charity — 
before  the  presence  of  God  in  your  heart."  Now, 
the  man  I  have  been  describing  began,  perhaps,  with 
thoughtfulness  ;  but  little  by  little  the  dissipation  of 
his  thoughts  and  the  constant  talk  of  his  lips  have 
made  him  to  be,  as  we  say,  "  all  aboard."  He  is  not 
"  at  home ; "  he  is  not  dwelling  with  God ;  the  three 
lamps  grow  dim ;  faith,  hope,  and  charity  burn  low. 
This  is  just  the  state  that  our  Divine  Lord  has  de- 
*  St.  Matt.  xii.  36. 


112  SINS   OF    OMISSION. 

scribed,  when  He  says :  "Any  man  putting  his  hand 
to  the  plough  and  looking  back,  is  not  fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  God."*  He  does  not  say  that  he  will 
never  be  saved,  because  he  may  turn  back  and  steadily 
follow  out  the  furrow  to  the  end ;  but  so  long  as  he 
has  his  face  averted  from  God,  all  the  activity  of  his 
mind  and  being  is  turned  from  God  to  creatures. 

2.  This  is  the  first  effect  of  a  sin  of  omission ; 
the  next  is  that  it  produces  a  kind  of  sluggishness 
in  everything  that  he  does.  Outwardly,  perhaps,  the 
actions  of  his  life  are  to  the  eye  of  his  neighbors 
just  the  same  as  they  were  before  ;  but  to  the  eye 
of  God,  a  change  has  passed  upon  him.  The  eye 
of  God,  to  whom  all  things  are  open,  sees  that 
the  inward  state  of  that  man  is  not  what  it  was. 
There  is  a  certain  sluggishness  which  no  human 
eye  can  detect,  but  God  sees  it  in  everything  that 
he  does.  I  have  said  before,  that  fervor  consists  in 
doing  our  duty  with  great  exactness.  He  begins  to 
do  his  duties  with  a  certain  carelessness,  so  that  the 
motives  from  which  he  acts,  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  does  even  things  that  are  good,  are  not  what  they 
were.  Just  as  a  man  who  writes  in  haste,  or  who 
draws  in  haste,  will  not  complete  any  figure  or 
any  letter  with  exactness;  so  it  is  with  the  man 
who  begins  to  lose  his  fervor.  Then  he  begins 
*  St.  Luke  ix.  62. 


SINS   OF  OMISSION.  113 

to  be  unpunctual.  He  puts  off  his  prayers  in  the 
morning ;  he  forgets  them  till  noonday,  and  per- 
haps, at  noonday,  he  says  only  half  of  them ;  and 
at  night  he  says  them  with  an  uneasy  conscience. 
Perhaps  the  next  day  it  is  the  same,  or  even  worse. 
Unpunctnality  begins  to  run  through  all  his  secret 
duties  before  God.  Then  comes  irregularity.  That 
is  to  say,  he  used  to  live  by  rule,  he  used  to  take 
the  will  of  God  as  his  will,  and  try  to'  conform  him- 
self to  it  as  well  as  he  could ;  but  now  he  lives  by 
the  rules  of  the  world,  the  customs  of  men,  and  I 
may  say,  at  haphazard  and  at  random. 

The  next  step  is  this  :  he  begins  openly  to  leave 
duties  undone.  To  take  one  example :  every  one 
who  is  in  a  state  of  grace  has  the  seven  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Now  these  seven  gifts  are  :  Wisdom, 
Understanding,  Counsel,  Knowledge,  Piety,  Forti- 
tude, and  the  Fear  of  the  Lord.  Four  of  these  per- 
fect the  intellect,  and  three  of  them  perfect  the  will ; 
but  a  man  in  this  state  of  sluggishness  ceases  to 
act  according  to  the  light  and  direction  of  these  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  These  seven  gifts  have 
been  described  as  the  sails  of  a  ship ;  the  more  we 
spread  them  the  more  we  speed  the  soul ;  and  the 
more  we  speed  the  soul  the  more  we  are  carried 
onwards  in  the  way  of  salvation.  Those  who  neg- 
lect those  gifts,  or  by  sins  of  omission  do  not  make 


114  SIXS    OF   OMISSION. 

use  of  them,  leave  the  sails  reefed  or  furled ;  and 
their  course  in  the  way  of  eternal  life  is  retarded. 
Again,  there  are  in  every  one  of  us  the  graces  of 
faith,  hope,  and  charity.  In  your  prayer-books  you 
are  bid  to  make  the  acts  of  these  three  virtues. 
But  what  do  acts  mean  ?  They  are  inward  actions 
of  the  soul  towards  God,  whereby  we  exert  the  grace 
of  faith,  or  the  grace  of  hope,  or  the  grace  of  charity 
in  union  with  God.  But  these  soon  lose  their  power 
in  a  man  who  has  ceased  to  pray.  Next  comes  neg- 
lect of  the  manifold  duties  of  charity  towards  our 
neighbor.  What  was  the  sin  of  the  Priest  and  of 
the  Levite  when  each  of  them  saw  the  wounded  man 
in  the  road  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  ?  The 
priest  came  that  way,  and  looked  upon  him,  and 
passed  by.  The  Levite  came,  and  saw  him,  and 
passed  on.  They  committed  a  sin  of  omission,  in 
respect  to  the  charity  they  owed  to  their  neighbor. 
What  was  the  sin  of  Dives,  at  whose  door  Lazarus 
lay  full  of  sores  ?  We  do  not  read  that  he  refused  to 
help  him — we  certainly  do  not  read  that  he  drove 
him  away  from  his  house — but  he  gave  him  no  help. 
It  was  a  sin  of  omission.  Our  Lord  says  that  at  the 
Last  Day  He  will  say  :  "  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave 
Me  no  meat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  Me  no  drink ; 
I  was  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me  not."*  He  will  not 
*  St.  Matt.  xxv.  35. 


,       SINS    OF   OMISSION.  115 

say  :  "  I  asked  you,  and  you  refused  Me ;"  but  "Ye  did 
not  seek  me  out ;"  which  again  is  a  sin  of  omission. 
Lastly  comes  the  sin  of  omission  of  love  towards  God. 
We  are  bound  to  love  God  with  our  whole  heart  and 
our  whole  mind ;  and  the  man  who  commits  sins 
of  omission  in  charity  towards  his  neighbor  fails 
also  in  charity  towards  God,  for  "  he  that  loveth  not 
his  brother  whom  he  seeth,  how  can  he  love  God 
whom  he  seeth  not  ?"*  The  state  of  such  a  soul  is 
thus  described  in  the  parable  :f  the  servant  who  had 
received  a  pound  took  and  buried  it,  and  another 
who  had  received  a  talent  wrapped  it  in  a  napkin. 
When  the  Lord  came,  they  both  restored  that  which 
they  had  received  undiminished;  but  it  was  not 
increased — and  why  ?  Because  they  were  guilty  of 
a  sin  of  omission.  They  had  not  used  that  trust 
which  was  committed  to  their  stewardship  ;  and  the 
excuse  given  was  this :  "I  knew  that  thou  wert  an 
austere  man,  reaping  where  thou  hast  not  sown,  and 
gathering  where  thou  hast  not  strewed."  That  is  to 
say,  when  he  had  begun  to  lose  his  love  to  his  Master, 
he  lost  his  confidence  in  his  Master's  love.  He 
began  to  distrust  the  love  of  God,  because  he  knew 
that  he  was  wanting  in  love  towards  Him.  So 
3  that  the  sin  of  omission  at  last  threatens  the  life 
of  the  soul :  for  charity  is  the  life  of  the  soul. 
*  1  St.  John  iv.  20.        f  St.  Luke  xix.  20. 


116  SINS    OF   OMISSION. 

3.  Then,  thirdly,  from  these  sins  of  slothfulness 
comes  a  certain  animosity  against  those  who  love  God. 
J  nst  as  the  sonl  tnrns  away  from  God,  in  that  pro- 
portion it  has  an  animosity  against  those  who  con- 
tinue to  persevere  in  the  love  of  God ;  so  much  so, 
that  the  very  sight  of  any  one  who  is  fervent  in  the 
love  of  God  becomes  an  eye-sore.  We  know — and  you, 
I  have  no  doubt,  know  by  yonr  own  experience — that 
we  can  tolerate  anybody  as  a  companion  who  is  less 
pious  than  we  are,  but  we  cannot  easily  tolerate  any- 
body who  is  more  pious.  Any  one  who  prays  more, 
or  any  one  who  makes  more  of  his  duties  towards 
God  and  his  neighbor :  any  one  who  is  more  just  or 
more  holy  is  a  constant  reproof  and  rebuke  to  us. 
We  are  ill  at  ease  in  his  presence ;  but  anybody  who 
is  lower  than  ourselves  we  can  tolerate  easily.  He 
is  neither  a  reproof  nor  a  rebuke ;  on  the  contrary, 
we  think  we  can  teach  him,  and  we  are  soothed  by 
thinking  that  we  can  set  him  an  example.  There 
is  nothing  galling  or  painful  in  the  companionship 
of  those  who  are  lower  than  ourselves  in  the  spiritual 
life;  but  those  who  are  above  us,  unless  we  are 
humble,  make  us  restless.  One  sign  of  those  who 
are  declining  from  God  is  this  :  they  do  not  like  to 
see  people  go  so  often  to  Communion ;  they  get 
impatient  at  hearing  of  their  going  so  often  to 
confession;    or  if  they  know  that  they  often  visit 


SINS    OF   OMISSION.  117 

the  Blessed  Sacrament,  or  that  they  spend  a  long 
time  in  their  room  in  prayer,  all  this  makes  them 
uneasy.     Finally,  even  the  grace  of  God,  which  they 
see  in  others  becomes  to  them  a  trial.      If  they 
see  people  more  zealous  than  they  are,  more  fer- 
vent, more  self-denying,  more  prosperous  in  working 
for  God — in  saving  souls,  in  doing  works  of  charity, 
or  in  labors    of    spiritual    mercy — even  that  very 
spiritual  prosperity    of  their  neighbor  makes  them 
to  fret.     They  are  conscious  that  they  are  not  like 
them,  and  that  consciousness  is  painful.     If  you  look 
for  an  example  out  of  Holy  Scripture,  I  will  give  you 
two.     When  the  Prodigal  Son  came  home,  and  the 
father  forgave  him,  and  gave  him  shoes  on  his  feet, 
and  the  first  robe,*  and  made  the  festival  of  joy,  the 
elder  brother,  when  he  heard  the  music,  refused  to 
come  in.     He  was  jealous  and  angry.     When   our 
Divine  Lord  sat  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee, 
and  poor  Mary  Magdalen,  with  all  her  sins  upon  her, 
burst  into  the  midst  of  that  banquet,  and  washed  the 
feet  of  our  Lord  with  her  tears,  and  anointed  them  and 
kissed  them,  Simon   the  Pharisee  said   to   himself: 
"This  man,  if  he  were  a  prophet,  would  know  who  and 
what  manner  of  woman  this  is,  for  she  is  a  sinner." 
Our  Lord  said  :  "  Simon,  I  have  somewhat  to  say  to 
thee.     I  entered  into  thy  house ;  thou  gavest  Me  no 
*  St.  Luke  xv.  22. 


118  SINS    OF    OMISSION. 

water  for  my  feet :  this  woman  since  I  came  in  hath 
washed  My  feet  with  her  tears.  My  head  with  oil 
thou  didst  not  anoint;  but  she  had  anointed  My 
feet  with  ointment.  Thou  gavest  Me  no  kiss ;  she, 
since  I  came  in,  kissed  My  feet."*  In  the  heart  of 
that  Pharisee,  upright  as  no  doubt  he  was,  and  pure 
from  the  sins  which  stained  poor  Mary  Magdalen, 
there  was  a  lack  of  charity  before  God,  a  pride,  and 
censoriousness,  which  was  rebuked  by  the  grace  of 
penance  in  that  poor,  fallen  woman. 

4.  A  fourth  effect  of  the  sins  of  omission  and  of 
this  decline  of  the  soul  is  despondency,  which  is  akin 
to  despair.  A  consciousness  of  sin  has  the  effect  of 
depressing  the  soul,  and,  unless  it  soften  it,  of  mak- 
ing it  to  doubt  its  own  salvation ;  for  where  the  charity 
of  God  and  our  neighbor  has  become  low  and  faint, 
if  it  be  not  altogether  lost,  there  both  hope  and  faith 
begin  likewise  to  decline.  Any  man  who  is  con- 
scious of  his  own  sins,  knows  that  though  men  do 
not  see  them  or  suspect  them — though  they  are 
only  half  known  and  half  seen  even  by  his  own  con- 
science— they  are  all  perfectly  seen  and  known  to  the 
eye  of  Almighty  God.  This  consciousness  of  sinful- 
ness, coupled  with  the  consciousness  of  impenitence, 
the  sense  that  he  is  not  softened,  nor  humbled,  but 
rather  that  he  is  irritated  by  the  clear  sight  of  his 
*  lb.  vii.  37,  46. 


SINS   OF  OMISSION.  119 

own  sin  and  of  the  graces  of  those  that  are  about 
him,  lights  up  a  high  fever  of  resentful  heat  which 
grows  more  fierce  as  charity  declines.  The  will  in 
its  stiffness  refuses  to,  bow  itself  before  God,  and 
though  a  cloud  on  the  conscience  half  hides  many 
sins  that  are  not  altogether  forgotten,  he  is  half  con- 
scious of  many,  and  therefore  full  of  fear,  not  know- 
ing whether  or  no  he  is  the  object  of  a  final  hatred. 
A  soul  in  that  state  becomes  desponding  and  reck- 
less, so  that  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  instead  of  turn- 
ing towards  God  by  repentance,  it  turns  recklessly 
away  from  God  and  plunges  further  into  sin.  So  long 
as  there  is  a  hope  of  salvation,  a  hope  of  pardon,  and 
so  long  as  a  good  name  and  fame  among  men  is 
not  lost,  a  man  is  sustained  by  a  certain  lingering 
confidence  and  restrained  from  a  multitude  of  sins  ; 
but  the  moment  hope  is  lost  and  the  last  spring  is 
broken,  a  man  who  began  only  with  sins  of  omission 
and  then  sins  of  sloth,  will  at  last  plunge  recklessly 
into  sins  he  never  committed  before,  saying :  "  It  is 
too  late — I  have  gone  too  far — I  am  too  bad.  Spots 
are  not  visible  upon  a  black  garment,  and  I  am 
black  before  God,  whether  I  am  so  before  man  or 
not ;"  on  this,  he  plunges  himself  further  and  further 
into  sin.  Those  who  answer  to  this  description 
verify  the  words  of  our  Divine  Lord  to  the  Church 
of  Sardis :  "  I  know  thy  works,  and  that  thou  hast 


120  SINS   OF   OMISSION. 

the  name  of  being  alive,  and  thon  art  dead.  Be 
watchful  and  strengthen  the  things  that  remain 
which  are  ready  to  die.  For  I  find  not  thy  works 
full  before  My  God."*  The  meaning  of  this  is :  Thou 
has  lost  thy  first  charity;  there  remain  faith  and 
hope  in  a  little  measure.  The  reed,  though  bruised, 
is  not  broken — the  flax,  though  smoking  only,  is 
not  quenched ;  there  is  hope  yet,  for  faith  and  hope 
are  not  yet  dead ;  but  when  once  hope  is  dead,  what 
can  remain  1  Take  example  from  Scripture.  Judas 
sold  his  Master;  Peter  denied  Him.  Judas  had 
lost  his  love  for  his  Master,  but  Peter  loved  Him 
still.  Judas  had  lost  his  hope,  but  Peter  hoped  yet ; 
and  Peter  went  out  and  wept  bitterly,  and  was  for- 
given ;  and  Judas  went  out  and  hanged  himself. 

5.  Lastly,  there  is  one  more  effect,  and  that 
is  the  state  which  is  called  the  sin  of  sloth — the 
state  of  the  soul  which,  having  fallen  from  charity 
and  having  lost  hope,  has  become  sick  of  God  and 
weary  of  God.  Such  a  man  says  :  "I  wish  to  God 
that  I  had  never  been  born !"  I  have  heard  those 
words  again  and  again  out  of  the  mouth  of  sinners  : 
"  I  wish  to  God  I  had  never  heard  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  I  should  not  then  have  been  responsible.  I 
would  to  God  I  had  never  known  the  truth ;  for  I 
should  not  have  to  answer  for  it.     I  should  die  like 

*  Apoc.  iii.  1. 


SINS    OF    OMISSION.  121 

a  dog — and  better  to  die  like  a  dog  than  die  as 
I  shall,  with  the  illumination  to  know  God  and 
Jesus  Christ,  to  know  His  will,  and  His  truth,  and 
to  be  forever  as  I  am  now!"  Such  things  every 
priest  has  heard,  and  perhaps  you  yourselves  have 
heard.  The  soul,  weary  and  sick  of  God,  turns  away«- 
from  the  Holy  Sacraments,  turns  away  from  prayer, 
turns  away  from  holy  people,  from  every  memorial 
of  God  and  His  service,  until  at  last  such  a  man  will 
say :  "Almighty  God,  why  dost  thou  persecute  me 
with  Thy  perfections  ?  Thy  justice,  which  I  cannot 
deny,  is  like  the  blaze  of  the  noonday  sun,  terrible 
and  scorching;  and  Thy  holiness  is  like  the  light 
that  pervades  the  world,  and  I  cannot  escape  from 
it."  Souls  in  that  state  say  in  an  inverted  sense  the 
very  words  of  the  Psalmist :  "  Whither  shall  I  go 
from  Thy  presence,  and  whither  shall  I  flee  from 
Thy  face  %  If  I  go  up  in  heaven,  Thou  art  there ; 
if  I  go  down  into  hell,  Thou  art  there  also.  If  in 
the  morning  I  take  wings  and  flee  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  even  there  Thy  hand  leadeth  me, 
and  Thy  right  hand  upholdeth  me.  If  I  say,  Dark- 
ness shall  cover  me,  the  darkness  is  no  darkness  to  * 
Thee.  The  darkness  and  the  light  to  Thee  are  both 
alike,"*  This  is  what  the  people  of  Jerusalem  said : 
the  forefathers  of  those  who  cried,  "His  blood  be 

*  Ps.  cxxxviii.  7-12. 

6 


122  SINS   OF    OMISSION. 

upon  us  and  upon  our  children."*  They  said :  "  Let 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel  cease  from  before  us  ;"f  that 
is,  let  God  get  out  of  our  way.  Now,  brethren,  this  is 
what  the  sin  of  sloth  comes  to  at  last.  I  have  traced 
it  from  its  beginning  in  a  sin  of  omission — a  sin 
of  omission  in  prayer ;  because,  as  I  said,  prayer  is 
the  life  and  breath  of  the  soul,  and  the  soul  that 
prays  is  united  with  God.  The  soul  that  loses  its 
union  with  God  bj  prayer  may  fall  into  the  bottom- 
less pit.  There  is  no  depth  of  eternal  death  into 
which  a  soul  that  ceases  to  pray  may  not  fail.  It 
will  not  fall  all  at  once ;  it  falls  very  gradually,  little 
by  little,  insensibly,  and  there  is  the  chief  danger. 
This  exactly  expresses  the  words  with  which  I  be- 
gan :  "  Who  can  understand  sins  \  From  my  secret 
sins  cleanse  me,  O  Lord." 

I  hope,  then,  that  1  need  speak  no  more  upon 
this  severe  part  of  our  subject.  I  will  only  give  two 
very  short  counsels.  The  one  is  this  :  aim  at  the 
highest  and  greatest  things  of  God's  kingdom.  Do 
not  think  that  it  is  humility  to  try  to  live  a  common- 
place Christian  life.  Dear  brethren,  it  is  like  sea- 
men who  say,  "  I  will  not  launch  out  into  the  deep, 
but  I  will  keep  near  the  shore."  To  keep  near  the 
shore  is  not  always  safety ;  to  keep  near  the  shore 
requires  the  greater  seamanship ;  to  keep  near  the 
*  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  25.  \  Isa.  xxx.  11. 


SINS   OF   OMISSION.  123 

shore  may  be  to  run  the  greatest  risk  of  wrecking. 
Do  not  imagine  for  one  moment  that  this  is  humility. 
The  humblest  may  seek  the  greatest  things  in  God's 
kingdom.  Aim  at  the  highest.  You  have  been 
called  to  be  saints,  every  one  of  you.  The  very 
name  by  which  we  are  called  in  the  New  Testament 
is  "  saints."  With  all  your  sins  and  imperfections 
about  you,  you  are  called  to  be  saints.  If  you  are 
to  be  saved,  saints  you  must  be  before  the  throne 
in  the  kingdom  of  God  hereafter.  Saints  you  are 
now,  if  the  Holy  Ghost  dwell  in  you,  and  you  are 
united  in  love  to  God  and  your  neighbor.  Sanctity 
is  in  you  ;  and  as  the  twilight  of  the  morning  is  the 
light  of  day,  and  differs  from  the  noonday  only  in 
the  degree  of  its  splendor,  so  the  sanctity  which  is 
in  you  now  differs  only  in  the  degree  of  its  mani- 
festation from  that  perfect  sanctity  which  shall  be  in 
you  when  "  the  just  shall  shine  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father."  *  Is  it  possible,  then, 
that  we  can  aim  at  anything  lower  than  this  %  It  is 
a  deceit  of  the  devil  for  any  man  to  turn  aside  from 
the  path  which  leads  him  upward  to  the  highest 
Christian  life  under  the  notion  of  humility  or  of  im- 
possibility. The  grace  that  is  given  to  each  one  of 
you  is  measured  according  to  the  vocation  wherewith 
you  are  called.  If  God  has  called  you  to  be  saints, 
*  St.  Matt.  xiii.  43. 


124  SINS   OF   OMISSION. 

lie  has  given  you,  and  will  give  you,  grace  sufficient 
to  enable  you  to  become  saints  —  ay,  the  guiltiest 
among  you,  and  there  may  be  some  ears  listening  to 
my  words  conscious  of  the  stain  of  mortal  sin. 
Even  the  guiltiest  that  hears  me  has  grace  offered 
now,  at  this  moment,  to  become  penitent,  and  through 
penitence  to  become  a  saint.  The  most  tempted,  the 
most  buffeted,  the  soul  that  has  fallen  oftenest,  that 
has  been  cast  down  over  and  over  again  by  long 
habitual  and  inveterate  sin,  even  to  that  soul  grace 
sufficient  is  offered  at  this  time  to  be  a  saint  if  it 
have  the  will  to  receive  it.  More  than  this :  the 
most  slothful,  the'  most  sluggish  souls,  the  souls 
most  conscious  that  they  are  covered  with  sins  of 
omission,  and  that  there  is  not  a  duty  they  do  which 
they  do  not  do  so  tardily  and  imperfectly  as  to  be 
utterly  ashamed  in  secret  of  themselves  before  God, 
even  such  souls  as  these  have  the  grace  of  fervor 
and  zeal  and  strength  and  piety  and  perseverance 
offered  at  this  moment  if  they  have  only  the  will 
to  accept  it.  The  only  condition  is  this  :  break  with 
the  world,  with  sin,  and  with  yourselves,  and  be  on 
God's  side.  Take  up  your  cross  boldly ;  follow  Jesus 
Christ.  Have  no  compromises,  no  reserves,  and  He 
will  do  the  rest  for  you. 

The  other  counsel  is  this.    Cast  yourselves  with  all 
your  offences  of  commission  and  omission,  all  your 


SINS     OF     OMISSION.  125 

faults,  all  your  stains,   all   your  weight,  with  the 
whole  burden  of  your  sins  on  you — cast  yourselves 
upon  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  as  John  lay  upon 
His  bosom  at  supper.     Do  not  think  that  this  is  not 
for  you.     Do  not  say,  "  It  is  not  for  me  to  cast  my- 
self there — there  where  the  beloved  Disciple  lay." 
Why  did  he  lie  there  ?     Was  it  because  he  loved  his 
Lord  ?     No  ;  it  was  because  his  Lord  loved  him  ; 
and  that  same  love  which  He  had  for  John,  not  in 
degree  it  may  be,  but  in  kind,  in  its  infinite  tender- 
ness and  its  infinite  compassion,  that  same  love  is 
yours.     He  loves  you,  if  not  in  the  same  measure, 
in  the  same  manner,  and  therefore  cast  yourselves 
upon  the  love  of  our  Lord.     The  gift  of  free  will, 
which  we  all  have,  is  a  perilous  gift.    It  is  a  wonderful 
mystery  that  a  man  can  balance  and  poise  his  body 
to  stand  or  walk — every  motion  rests  in  a  mysterious 
manner  on  the  balance  of  nature ;  but  the  freedom 
of  the  will  is  still  more  mysterious,  and  still  more 
easily  cast  down.     We  are  surrounded  by  temptation 
all  the  day  long,  and  the  world  is  constantly  playing 
upon  us  by  its  powers  of  assimilation.     Worse  than 
this,  there  is  the  treachery  of  false  and  subtle  hearts, 
of  hearts  always  ready  to  take  fire.    All  the  day  long 
sin  springs  up  within  to  meet  the  temptation  from 
without.     For  that  reason  you  have  more  need.     Do 
not  say,  "  That  makes  me  less  able  to  cast  myself 


126  SINS   OF   OMISSION. 

upon  the  Sacred  Heart  of  my  Redeemer."  It  is  for 
that  very  reason  that  you  need  to  do  it.  As  the 
blind  man  went  to  the  Pool  of  Siloe  ;  as  the  lepers 
came  within  reach  of  the  hand  of  our  Saviour ;  as 
the  poor  woman  touched  the  hem  of  His  garment — so, 
as  your  miseries  are  the  greater,  you  have  the  more 
need ;  and  if  you  will  come  to  Him,  He,  by  His 
Spirit  within  you,  and  by  His  protection  about  you, 
will  keep  you  from  all  evil,  and  will  confirm  you  in 
His  grace.  And  that  you  may  do  this,  I  will  bid 
you  adopt  from  this  day  one  practice. 

Every  day  of  your  life  pray  G-od  to  give  you  light 
to  see  yourselves  just  as  He  sees  you  now  :  to  show 
you  what  sin  is  in  all  its  hideousness,  in  all  its  sub- 
tilty,  and  to  show  you  those  secret  sins  which  now 
you  do  not  see  in  yourselves.  Every  day  of  your 
life  ask  this  of  God.  Remember  the  young  man  who 
came  to  our  Lord,  and  asked  what  he  should  do  to 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Our  Lord  said : 
"  Sell  all  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  come 
and  follow  Me."  *  He  went  away  sorrowing,  and 
that  one  thing  wanting  lost  him  all  things.  You 
remember  the  Rye  wise  and  the  five  foolish  virgins. 
The  five  foolish  virgins  went  out  with  the  five  that 
were  wise ;  they  were  attired  in  the  same  bridal 
raiment ;  they  all  carried  their  lamps  with  them,  and 
*  St.  Matt.  xix.  21. 


SINS   OF   OMISSION.  127 

their  lamps  were  lighted — in  this  they  were  all  alike ; 
and  they  all  slumbered  and  slept.  What  was  the 
difference  between  the  five  wise  and  the  five  foolish  ? 
The  five  wise  had  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their 
lamps ;  the  five  foolish  had  omitted  to  bring  oil  in 
their  vessels  with  their  lamps.  And  while  they  all 
slumbered  their  lamps  went  out ;  and  when  the  cry 
was  heard  at  midnight,  "  The  bridegroom  cometh  !  " 
they  waked  up  and  found  their  lamps  gone  out. 
They  first  would  borrow ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  bor- 
row grace.  They  went  to  buy  ;  but  while  they  were 
gone  the  bridegroom  entered,  and  the  door  was  shut. 
"When  they  came  back  they  knocked  upon  the  door, 
and  said :  "  Lord,  Lord,  open  to  us."  But  He  an- 
swered from  within  :  "  I  never  knew  you." 


V. 

THE  GRACE  AND   WORKS   OP 
PENANCE. 


THE   GKACE  AND  WOKKS  OF  PENANCE. 


Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive, 
they  are  forgiven  them ;  whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are 
retained.     St.  John  xx.  22,  23. 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  when  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  that  His  dis- 
ciples were  gathered  together,  and  the  doors  were 
shut  for  fear  of  the  Jews.  When  they  least  expected 
it,  unawares,  and  by  His  divine  power,  He  came, 
though  the  doors  were  closed,  and  stood  in  the  midst 
of  them,  and  His  first  words  were,  "  Peace  be  unto 
you."  And  when  He  had  assured  them  that  it  was 
He  Himself,  their  fears  were  dispelled.  He  then 
said,  "  Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Holy  Ghost 
proceeds  from  the  Father  and  from  the  Son,  and  I, 
the  Son  of  God,  breath  upon  you — receive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  whose  sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are 
forgiven  them ;  whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are 
retained."  That  is,  He  gave  them  the  proof  of  His 
Godhead  in  the  power  of  absolution.   He  gave  them 

the  proof  of  His  Godhead — for  the  Pharisees  were 

(131) 


132     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

right  when  they  asked,  "  Who  shall  forgive  sins  but 
God  only  ?  "*  God  alone  can  absolve,  and  God  alone 
can  give  the  power  of  absolution.  When  the  power 
absolution  is  exercised  by  any  man,  he  is  but  an  in- 
strument in  the  hand  of  God :  the  absolver  is  always 
God  Himself.  Our  Lord  exercised,  among  many 
other  attributes  of  His  Godhead  upon  earth,  these 
three  powers  of  special  divinity — He  raised  the  dead ; 
He  multiplied  the  bread  in  the  wilderness ;  and  He 
cleansed  the  lepers:  and  these  three  works  of  al- 
mighty power,  which  are  altogether  divine,  He  has 
committed  a  spiritual  form  to  His  Church  for  ever. 
When  He  said,  "  Go,  and  make  disciples  of  all  na- 
tions, baptising  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  in  that  power  of  baptism  He 
gave  to  His  Apostles  and  their  successors  the  power 
of  raising  from  spiritual  death  to  spiritual  life. 
Those  who  are  born  dead  in  sin  are  raised  by  a  new 
birth  to  spiritual  life.  When  he  instituted  the  most 
Holy  Sacrament  of  His  Body  and  Blood,  and  gave 
to  His  Church  the  authority  to  say,  "This  is  My 
Body,"  He  gave  the  power  to  feed  His  people  with 
the  Bread  of  Life,  and  to  multiply  that  Bread  forever. 
When  He  said,  "  Whose  sins  ye  shall  forgive,  they 
are  forgiven  unto  them,"  He  gave  the  power  of  cleans- 
ing the  leprosy  of  the  soul.  Sometimes,  incoherent 
*  St.  Matt.  ii.  10. 


THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE.     133 

or,  what  is  worse,  controversial  minds  imagine,  or 
at  least  say,  that  this  power  was  confined  to  the 
Apostles.  The  very  words  are  enough  to  prove  the 
contrary ;  but  there  is  an  intrinsic  reason  in  the 
thing  which,  to  any  Christian  mind,  mnst  be  suffi- 
cient to  show  that  these  three  powers  are  perpetual ; 
for  what  are  these  three  powers,  but  the  authority  to 
apply  to  the  souls  of  men  for  ever  the  benefits  of  the 
most  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  Precious 
Blood  would  have  been  shed  in  vain,  if  it  were  not 
applied  to  the  souls  of  men  one  by  one.  The  most 
potent  medicines  work  no  cures,  save  in  those  to 
whom  they  are  applied;  and  the  Precious  Blood, 
which  is  the  remedy  of  sin,  works  the  healing  of  the 
soul  only  by  its  application.  Baptism,  the  Holy 
Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  and  the  Sacrament  of  Pen- 
ance are  three  divine  channels  whereby  the  Pre- 
cious Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  is  applied  to  the  soul. 

I  am  conscious  that  our  thoughts  hitherto  have 
been  full  of  sharpness  and  severity.  We  have  been 
dwelling  upon  sin — upon  mortal  and  venial  sins, 
and  upon  sins  of  omission.  We  enter  now  upon 
another  region — the  realm  of  peace,  of  grace,  of 
pardon,  and  of  healing.  Therefore  we  will  speak 
of  the  grace  and  the  works  of  penance. 

Penance  is  both  a  virtue  and  a  sacrament.  Pen- 
ance means  simply  repentance.     I  do  not  suppose 


134  THE   GKACE   AND   WORKS   OF   PENANCE. 

that  anybody  who  hears  me  is  so  narrow-minded  or 
so  little  cultivated  as  to  ring  the  changes  of  contro- 
versial misunderstanding  upon  the  word  "  penance," 
and  the  like.  "  Repentance,"  or  "  penitence,"  or 
"  penance,"  are  all  one  and  the  same,  word  and  thing. 
Just  as  the  word  "  alms "  is  the  contraction  of  the 
word  " eleemosyne."  So  the  word  "penance"  is  but 
a  contraction  of  the  word  "penitence."  A  little 
learning  is  a  dangerous  thing,  and  in  controversy  it  is 
worst  of  all.  From  the  beginning  of  the  world  the 
grace  of  penance  has  been  poured  out  upon  men.  It 
is  an  interior  disposition  of  the  soul  before  God; 
and  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whose  office  it  is  to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  has 
convinced  sinners  of  their  transgressions,  has  con- 
verted them  to  penance,  and  from  penance  has  made 
them  saints.  But  penance,  in  the  Christian  law,  is 
also  a  sacrament ;  and  I  have  to  explain  the  meaning 
of  the  grace  and  the  action  of  the  sacrament,  and 
how  they  are  united. 

1.  First,  penance  is  a  grace  or  inward  disposition 
of  the  soul,  and  I  need  not  go  far  to  find  an  explana- 
tion. I  need  not  frame  any  explanation  of  my  own, 
for  we  have  a  divine  delineation  of  what  penance  is, 
drawn,  as  it  were,  by  a  pencil  of  light  by  our  Divine 
s  Saivour  Himself  in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 
There  we  have  a  revelation  of  what  the  grace  of  pen- 


THE   GRACE   AND   WORKS   OF    PENANCE.  135 

ance  is.  You  remember  the  parable.  A  man  had 
two  sons,  and  the  younger  came  to  him  and  said: 
""  Give  me'  the  portion  that  f alleth  to  me ; "  and  when 
he  had  received  it,  he  went  into  a  far  country  and 
wasted  it  in  riot,  fell  into  misery  and  returned  to  his 
father,  and  was  pardoned.  Let  us  take  the  main  fea- 
tures of  this.  First,  the  son  who,  under  the  roof  of 
a  loving  father,  had  need  of  nothing — for  his  father 
was  rich — chafed  and  was  fretful  because  the  autho- 
rity of  a  superior  will  was  upon  him.  He  could  not 
bear  the  yoke  of  living  under  a  paternal  rule,  and 
his  imagination  was  all  on  fire  with  the  thought  of 
liberty.  He  looked  at  the  horizon — it  may  be  the 
mountains  that  bounded  the  lands  and  fields  of  his 
father — and  pictured  to  himself  the  valleys  and  plains 
and  cities  full  of  youth  and  happiness  and  life  and 
freedom — a  happy  land,  if  only  he  could  break  away 
from  the  restraints  of  home.  He  came  to  his  father, 
and  with  a  cold-hearted  insolence  said :  "  Give  me 
the  portion  that  falleth  to  me ; "  which  being  trans- 
lated, is,  "  Give  me  what  I  shall  have  when  you  are 
dead."  There  was  a  spirit  of  undutifulness  and  of  in- 
gratitude in  that  demand ;  but  the  father  gave  it ;  and 
the  parable  says  that  not  many  days  after — that  is, 
with  all  speed,  in  fact — "  gathering  all  things  to- 
gether," all  he  had  and  all  he  could  get,  he  went  off 
into  a  far  country,  and  there  he  spent  all  he  had  in 


136     THE  GEACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

living  riotously.  Then  there  came  a  mighty  famine, 
and  he,  having  spent  all  things,  was  reduced  to  beg- 
gary. His  fair-weather  friends  all  forsook  him; 
the  parasites  who  fed  at  his  table  all  abandoned  him  : 
and  those  that  spoke  him  fair,  when  he  was  rich  and 
had  anything  to  give  them,  turned  their  backs  upon 
him :  his  very  servants  were  not  to  be  seen.  He 
found  himself  isolated,  destitute,  and  brought  to  such 
extremity  that  "  he  went  to  one  of  the  citizens  of 
that  country,"  and  offered  himself  as  his  servant. 
The  citizen  accepted  him ;  not  into  his  house — he 
did  not  even  send  him  into  his  garden,  no,  nor  into 
his  vineyard.  He  sent  him  into  his  fields ;  and  not 
to  tend  his  sheep,  no,  nor  to  watch  over  his  oxen, 
but  "  to  feed  his  swine."  Such  is  the  degradation  of 
a  sinner.  In  that  extremity  of  need  no  man  gave 
to  him ;  all  his  old  friends  were  afar  off ;  if  they  pos- 
sessed anything,  they  kept  it  to  themselves,  or  at 
least  they  gave  nothing  to  him.  There  was  no  me- 
mory, no  gratitude  of  their  past  friendship.  He  was 
fain  to  fill  his  hunger  with  the  husks — not  only  the 
husks  which  the  swine  did  eat,  but  the  husks  which 
the  swine  had  left — the  husks  which  fell,  as  it  were, 
from  the  trough  of  a  herd  of  swine.  Reduced  to 
such  misery,  which  is  the  picture  of  a  soul  in  mor- 
tal sin,  as  I  have  described  before,  he  came  to 
himself — the  word  is,    he   "returned   to  himself." 


THE   GRACE   AND  WORKS    OF   PENANCE.  137 

He  not  only  had  left  his  father,  but  had  forsaken 
himself — he  was  out  of  himself — besides  himself; 
for  sin  is  madness.  When  he  returned  to  him- 
self, he  said :  "  How  many  hired  servants  of  my 
father  have  bread  in  abundance,  and  I  here  perish 
for  hunger.  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and 
will  say  unto  him :  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven  and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to 
be  called  thy  son ;  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  ser- 
vants." Here  was  the  consciousness  of  unworthi- 
ness.  He  did  not  aspire  to  be  a  son  again ;  that, 
he  thought,  was  lost  forever.  It  was  enough  for 
him,  and  he  was  content  to  accept  the  position  of  a 
hired  servant  under  his  father's  roof.  And  he  arose 
and  went  to  his  father.  And  as  he  was  coming,  it 
may  be,  down  the  path  of  the  mountain  side,  bare- 
foot and  ragged,  up  which  he  had  gone  a  little  while 
ago  in  all  the  bravery  of  his  apparel  and  his  pride, 
before  he  caught  sight  of  his  father,  his  father  saw 
him  afar  off,  for  love  gives  keenness  of  sight  to  a 
father's  eye  :  he  saw  his  son  returning,  and  he  ran 
towards  him.  He  was  as  eager  to  forgive  as  the 
son  was  to  be  forgiven — ay,  more,  he  fell  upon 
his  neck,  and  the  prodigal  son  began  his  confession  : 
"Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before 
thee  ;"  but  before  he  could  finish — the  words  "  make 
me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants"  never  came  out  of 


138     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

his  mouth — his  father  fell  upon  his  neck  and  kissed 
him,  and  forgave  him  all.  He  was  perfectly  absolved. 
And  the  father  said :  "  Bring  forth  quickly  " — that 
is,  make  haste,  no  delay — "  the  first  robe,"  the  robe 
he  had  before,  and  put  it  on  him.  Put  shoes  on 
his  feet  and  a  ring  on  his  hand.  Restore  him  not 
only  to  the  state  of  pardon,  but  to  the  full  posses- 
sion of  all  he  had  before  his  fall ;  for  this  my  son 
was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 
found. 

We  see  here  in  the  Prodigal  Son  the  grace  of 
penance — that  is,  self-knowledge,  self-condemnation, 
sorrow  for  the  past,  conversion,  and  self -accusation. 
We  have  here  then,  I  say,  a  divine  delineation  of 
what  it  is.  Let  us  take  another  example.  There 
was  in  Jerusalem  one  who  was  rich,  and  abounded 
in  all  things.  She  possessed  also  the  fatal  gift 
of  beauty,  which  has  been  eternal  death  to  tens  of 
thousands.  She  was  living  in  wealth  and  luxury 
and  enjoyment,  and,  as  the  Apostle  said,  was  "  dead 
while  she  lived."  She  decked  herself  out  in  gold 
and  in  fine  apparel,  like  the  daughters  of  Jeru- 
salem, of  whom  the  Prophet  Isaias  says,  that  they 
were  haughty,  and  walked  with  their  necks  stretched 
out,  with  wanton  glances  in  their  eyes,  and  mak- 
ing a  noise  with  their  feet,  and  walking  with  a 
mincing  step,  with  the  affectation  of  an  immodest 


THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE.     139 

and  luxurious  life.  She  was  known  to  be  a  sinner, 
and  was  notorious  in  the  city.  On  a  day — we 
know  not  when,  we  know  not  where,  for  it  is  not 
written — she  chanced,  as  we  say,  to  light  upon  the 
presence  and  to  hear  the  voice  of  our  Divine  Re- 
deemer. It  may  be  that  it  was  in  the  Temple  where 
He  daily  taught.  It  may  be  she  had  gone  up  to  the 
Temple  in  all  the  bravery  and  all  the  ostentation  of 
her  apparel,  not  to  worship  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
but  from  curiosity,  and  to  be  seen,  and  to  show  her- 
self to  men.  But  she  found  herself  in  the  presence 
of  One  whose  calm  dignity  abashed  her.  At  first,  it 
may  be,  she  resisted  the  sound  of  the  voice;  but 
there  was  something  in  it  which  thrilled  to  the 
depth  of  the  heart.  There  was  something  in  the  still 
steady  gaze  of ,  that  divine  eye  which  she  could  not 
escape.  A  shaft  of  light  cut  her  heart  asunder,  and 
an  illumination  showed  her  to  herself,  even  as  God 
saw  her,  covered  with  sins  red  as  scarlet,  and,  as  the 
leper,  white  as  snow.  She  went  her  way  with  the 
wound  deep  in  the  heart — a  wound  which  could 
never  be  healed  save  only  by  the  hand  that  made  it. 
She  went  to  her  own  home,  no  doubt,  and  cast  over 
in  her  mind  what  she  had  heard.  The  gaze  that  had 
been  fixed  upon  her  and  the  sound  of  that  voice  were 
still  in  her  memory.  She  could  escape  them  nowhere. 
No  doubt  there  was  a  conflict  going  on  day  after  day, 


140     THE  GRACE  AND  WOEKS  OF  PENANCE. 

and  her  old  companions,  her  evil  friends,  and  the 
manifold  dangers  of  life  came  thick  about  her  as  be- 
fore ;  but  she  had  no  soul  for  them.  At  last,  laying 
aside  her  finery  and  ostentation,  unclasping  the  jewels 
from  her  head,  and  with  her  hair  all  loose  about  her, 
with  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment,  she  walked  through 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem  before  the  eyes  of  men, 
caring  for  no  one,  thinking  of  no  one  but  of  God 
and  of  her  own  sins.  Hearing  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
sat  at  meat  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee,  she 
broke  into  the  midst  of  the  banquet,  under  the 
scornful,  piercing,  indignant  eyes  that  were  fixed 
upon  her ;  without  shame,  because  her  only  shame 
was  before  the  eye  of  God ;  without  fear,  knowing 
what  she  was,  because  she  had  come  to  know  of  the 
love  and  tenderness  of  Him  who  had,  spoken  to  her. 
She  stood  silent  behind  Him  weeping.  She  had  the 
courage  even  to  kiss  His  feet,  to  wash  them  with  her 
tears,  to  wipe  them  with  the  hair  of  her  head ;  while 
the  Pharisee  secretly  rebuked  our  Divine  Lord,  and 
asked  himself  in  his  heart :  "  If  this  man  had  been 
a  prophet,  would  He  not  have  known  what  man- 
ner of  woman  this  is?  She  is  a  sinner,  and  He 
would  not  have  allowed  her  to  touch  His  feet."  But 
those  feet  had  in  them  the  healing  of  sin.  The 
touch  of  those  feet,  powerful  as  the  touch  upon  the 
hem  of  His  garment,  cleansed  that  poor  sinner.     He 


THE   GRACE   AND   WORKS   OF   PENANCE.  141 

turned,  and  in  the  hearing  of  them  all,  He  said: 
"  Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven  her,  be- 
cause she  has  loved  much."  Here  is  an  example  of 
the  grace  of  penance ;  and  an  example  not  of  penance 
only,  but  of  perfect  and  full  absolution  given  in  a 
moment ;  more  than  this,  of  a  complete  restoration 
of  purity  given  to  the  most  fallen.  In  token  of  that 
absolution  and  of  that  restoration,  privileges  were 
granted  to  Mary  Magdalen  beyond  others.  She,  out 
of  whom  Jesus  cast  seven  devils,  was  the  one  who 
stood  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  with  the  Immaculate 
Mother  of  God.  It  was  she  who  kissed  His  feet  at 
that  supper,  who  afterwards  anointed  them,  and 
wound  them  in  the  fine  linen  for  His  burial.  It  was 
she,  the  greatest  of  sinners,  -who,  next  after  His 
Immaculate  Mother,  saw  Him  before  all  others  when 
He  arose  from  the  dead ;  and  these  tokens  of  the  love 
of  Jesus  to  penitents,  and  to  the  greatest  of  peni- 
tents, have  been  followed  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
with  a  glory  proportioned  to  her  sorrow  and  to  her 
love.  Mary  Magdalen  is  set  forth  for  ever  as  an 
example  of  the  grace  of  penitence,  and  of  the  perfect 
absolution  of  the  most  Precious  Blood. 

But  perhaps  you  will  say,  She  had  never  known 
our  Saviour.  She  committed  all  her  sins  before  she 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  His  love.  I  have  known 
Him,  and  therefore  the  sins  I  have  committed  I  have 


142     THE  GEACE  AND  WOKKS  OF  TENAXCE. 

committed  against  tlie  light ;  and  my  sins  are  more 
ungrateful  than  hers,  and  are  therefore  guiltier,  and 
I  have  less  hope  of  pardon.  Let  us  see,  then,  if 
there  be  another  example.  Is  there  an  example  of 
any  friend,  who  had  been  highly  privileged,  greatly 
blessed,  who  had  known  everything,  who  had  received 
all  the  light  and  grace  which  came  from  the  presence 
and  the  words  of  our  Divine  Saviour  in  those  three 
years  of  His  public  life — is  there  any  such  who 
afterwards  sinned  against  Him  ?  There  was  one  to 
whom  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God 
was  first  revealed  by  the  Father  in  heaven.  There 
was  one  who  was  First  of  all  the  Apostles,  because  of 
this  illumination  of  faith,  and  to  whom  our  Divine 
Lord  said :  "  I  say  unto  thee,  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  Rock  I  will  build  My  Church ;  and  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it:  and  unto  thee  will 
I  give  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  what- 
soever thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  This  friend,  preferred 
above  all  others,  dignified  above  all  others,  protested 
to  his  Master :  "  Though  all  men  should  forsake 
Thee,  yet  will  not  I.  I  am  ready  to  go  with  Thee 
to  prison  and  to  death.*  Thougli  all  men  shall  deny 
Thee,  I  will  never  deny  Thee."  He  had  the  courage 
*  St.  Lube  xxii.  33. 


THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE.     143 

to  draw  his  sword  in  the  garden,  and  cut  off  the  ear 
of  the  servant  of  the  high-priest ;  yet  this  man  three 
times  denied  his  Master.  He  denied  him  utterly :  "I 
never  knew  the  Man.  I  am  not  of  his  disciples."  And 
with  cursing  and  swearing  he  renounced  his  Lord. 
Here,  then,  is  the  ingratitude  and  the  sin  of  a  cher- 
ished friend.  But  on  that  night  he  went  out,  and 
he  wept  bitterly ;  and  his  hitter  tears  upon  that 
night  of  sin  obtained  for  him  not  only  perfect  abso- 
lution in  the  evening  of  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
but  the  power  of  absolving  the  sins  of  others,  sinners 
like  himself.  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  whose 
sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  unto  them." 
Peter  received  his  own  absolution,  his  own  forgiv- 
ness,  and  in  that  moment  he  was  restored  to  his 
dignity  as  Prince  of  the  Apostles.  Though  he  was 
upbraided  in  the  grey  of  the  morning,  on  the  Sea  of 
Tiberias,  by  the  three  questions  of  tender  reproof : 
"  Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest  thou  Me,  lovest  thou 
Me  more  than  these  ?"  to  remind  him  of  his  three 
falls,  Peter  was  restored  to  more  than  he  had  before. 
He  was  made  Head  on  earth  of  the  Mystical  Body 
of  Christ ;  he  died  a  martyr  for  his  Lord,  and  he 
reigns  in  heaven  by  his  Master's  side. 

We  have  here  again  an  example  of  the  grace  of 
penance ;  and  what  do  we  see  in  it  ?  Just  the  same 
sorrow,  self-accusation,  reparation  as  before.     Hero 


144     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

is  the  virtue  and  grace  of  penance;  what,  then,  is 
the   sacrament?      This  grace   of  penance   is  as  old 
as  the  world :    it  is  to  be  found  everywhere  where 
the  Hoi j  Spirit  works  in  the  hearts  of  men,  if  they 
are  faithful  and  correspond  with  it.  What,  then,  is  the 
meaning  of  the  sacrament  %     Our  Lord  has  instituted 
a  Divine  Sacrament,  in  which  He  gives  the  absolu- 
tion of  His  most  Precious  Blood  to  those  that  accuse 
themselves.      He  instituted  it  on  that  night,  when 
He  spoke  the  words  with  which  I  began ;  and  the 
reason  for  which  He  instituted  it  is  this — that  we 
may   have  something  more  than   our  self-assurance 
on  which  to  depend  for  the  hope  of  our  absolution. 
The  Pharisee  in  the  Temple,  who  stood  afar  off  and 
said,  "  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am   not  as  other 
men  are — extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as 
this  publican,"*  that  Pharisee  absolved  himself ;  but 
his  absolution   was  not    ratified   in  heaven.      And 
so    it   is  often   among   men.     There    are  men  who 
absolve  themselves  all  the  day  long.     They  forget 
the  sins  of  their    childhood,  boyhood,   youth,   and 
manhood — ay,  the  sins  of  last  year,  the  sins  of  yes- 
terday ;  and,  having  a  slippery  treacherous  memory 
of  their  own  sins,  though  retentive  and  tenacious  of 
the  sins  of  other  men,  they  are  perpetually  absolving 
themselves,  and  assuring  themselves  that  they  are 
*  St.  Luke  xviii.  11 


THE   GRACE   AND   WOEKS   OF   PENANCE.  145 

pardoned  and  forgiven  before  God.  There  cannot  be 
a  state  more  dangerous,  delusive,  or  fatal ;  and  in 
order  to  guard  us  from  this,  our  Divine  Lord  has 
instituted  a  sacrament,  in  which  to  assure  us  of  our 
absolution,  in  which  our  absolution  is  a  judicial  act, 
an  authoritative  sentence,  an  act  pronounced  by  one 
who  is  impartial,  and  who  has  authority.  We  are 
not  left  to  absolve  ourselves ;  we  are  absolved  in  the 
name  and  by  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  by  a  judge 
empowered  by  himself. 

Moreover,  in  that  sacrament  there  is  grace  given ; 
and  that  grace  is  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  having 
two  effects :  first,  to  give  us  light  to  know  ourselves 
more  truly,  and  thereby  to  understand,  to  count  up, 
to  measure,  and  to  appreciate  our  sins  and  the  gravity 
of  them ;  and  secondly,  that  same  grace  enables  us 
to  be  contrite,  and  to  make  the  acts  of  sorrow.  For 
those  reasons  our  Lord  instituted  the  sacrament; 
that  is,  he  took  the  grace  of  penance  which  was 
working  from  the  beginning  of  the' world,  and  incor- 
porated it  in  a  visible  sign :  and  He  communicates 
His  absolution  and  the  grace  of  penance  to  those 
who  come  for  it,  as  He  gives  the  Bread  of  Life  to  * 
those  who  receive  Lloly  Communion  at  the  altar. 

Every   sacrament,  as  you  know,  has  an  outward 
sign  of  inward  grace.     It  has  also  what  is  called  the 
form  and  the  matter.  What,  then,  is  the  form  of  pen- 
7 


146     THE  GRACE  AND  W0KKS  OF  PENANCE. 

ance  %  It  is  in  these  words :  "I  absolve  thee  from  thy 
sins."  But  who  can  forgive  sins  except  God  only  \  Is 
it  the  priest  ?  Do  yon  imagine  for  one  moment  that 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church  is — I  will  not  say  so  su- 
perstitious, but  is  so  dull  of  heart,  so  dark  of  under- 
standing as  either  to  believe  or  teach  that  it  is  the 
man  who  absolves  %  It  is  the  office  that  absolves ; 
and  what  is  the  office  ?  The  priesthood  of  Jesus 
Christ  Himself.  There  are  not  two,  there  is  but  one 
Priest  and  one  priesthood  ;  and  the  priesthood  that 
we  bear  is  the  participation  of  that  one  priesthood  of 
Jesus  Christ  Himself.  What  we  do,  we  do  not  of 
ourselves.  It  is  he  who  does  it  by  us.  It  is  simply 
ministerial  on  our  part.  It  is  solely  and  entirely  His 
act.  When  at  the  altar  we  say,  "  This  is  My  Body, 
this  is  My  Blood,"  do  we  speak  in  our  own  name  ? 
Is  it  possible  that  anybody  with  Catholic  books  be- 
fore them  can  be  either  so  dull  of  sight,  or  so  dull  of 
understanding  1  There  is  but  one  Absolver,  Jesus 
Christ  Himself ;  but  he  has  ten  thousand  ministers 
on  earth,  through  whom  he  applies  His  Precious 
Blood  to  souls  that  are  truly  penitent.  The  act  of 
absolution  is  His. 

Such,  then,  is  the  form;  next,  what  is  the  matter? 
There  are  two  kinds  of  matter :  there  is  the  matter 
which  is  called  remote,  and  the  matter  which  is 
called  proximate.     The  remote  matter  of  the  sacra- 


THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE.     147 

ment  is  the  sins  that  we  have  commited.  It  is 
called  remote  for  this  reason — they  may  be  the  sins 
of  our  childhood,  a  long  way  off ;  the  sins  of  our 
youth,  long  forgotten,  but  now  at  last  remembered ; 
the  sins  that  we  have  committed,  and  have  long 
hesitated  to  confess — remote  from  the  present  mo- 
ment, because  they  are  a  long  way  off  in  our  past 
life;  or  if  they  were  only  of  yesterday,  still  they 
are  not  present  now.  Proximate  matter  is  that  state 
of  heart  which  we  must  bring  with  us  at  the  moment, 
then  and  there.  Now  this  remote  matter  is  also  of 
two  kinds.  First,  there  is  the  necessary  matter 
which  we  are  bound  to  confess  under  the  pain  of 
eternal  death ;  and  there  is  what  is  called  the  volun- 
tary matter,  which  it  is  good,  wholesome,  safe,  and 
better  to  confess,  though  it  is  not  of  absolute  neces- 
sity. Now  the  first  means  all  mortal  sins  committed 
after  baptism.  As  we  know  of  no  revealed  way  in 
which  the  mortal  original  sin  in  which  we  are  born 
can  be  absolved  except  by  baptism,  so  we  know  of  no 
other  revealed  way  whereby  mortal  actual  sins  com- 
mitted after  baptism  can  be  absolved,  save  only  by 
the  Sacrament  of  Penance.  You  will  remember  the 
principles  which  I  laid  down  in  the  first  and  second 
on  these  subjects  on  which  I  have  spoken  to  you — 
how  that  one  mortal  sin  separates  the  soul  from  God. 
A  soul  separated  from  God  is  dead  ;  and  therefore  it 


148     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

is  a  necessity  that  every  mortal  sin  we  have  com- 
mitted should  be  confessed  and  absolved.  The  vol- 
untary matter  is  our  venial  sins.  As  to  venial  sins, 
there  are  two  reasons  why  it  is  good  to  confess  them. 
The  first  is  because,  as  I  showed  you,  venial  sins 
may  easily  pass  into  mortal  sins.  Sometimes,  through 
the  self-love  which  is  in  us,  we  do  not  distinguish 
between  them  ;  and  we  consider  what  God  knows  and 
sees  to  be  mortal  to'  be  only  venial,  and  in  this  we  may 
make  dangerous  mistakes.  Again,  to  promote  hu- 
mility, self -accusation,  sorrow,  and  therefore  the  grace 
of  perseverance,  and  to  renew  our  peace  with  God,  it 
is  good  to  accuse  ourselves  of  everything  we  know 
we  have  committed,  even  in  the  least — even  in  the 
sins  of  omission  of  which  I  lately  spoke.  It  is  safer, 
better,  and  more  wholesome  to  confess  our  sins  of 
omission,  and  to  ask  God  to  forgive  them ;  neverthe- 
less, it  is  quite  true  that  these  sins,  being  venial,  are 
not  of  necessary  confession.  Well,  the  proximate 
matter  means  the  state  of  the  heart.  If  any  man 
were  to  kneel  down  in  the  confessional,  and  accuse 
himself  without  sorrow  for  his  sins,  he  would  com- 
mit another  sin.  It  would  be  an  act  of  sin  in  itself. 
It  would  be  a  sacrilege  to  come  and  receive  that 
sacrament  without  the  proper  dispositions,  that  is, 
without  being  worthy ;  and  the  man  who  has  no  sor- 
row for  sin  is  not  worthy.  Next,  there  must  be  a  state 


THE    GRACE    AND   WORKS    OF    PENANCE.  149 

of  the  will.  If  a  man  come  and  ask  for  pardon,  even 
were  lie  to  accuse  himself  perfectly,  without  having  a 
resolved  purpose  not  to  sin  again,  that  man  would 
commit  a  sacrilege.  Therefore,  the  heart  and  mind 
must  be  sorrowful,  and  the  will  resolved  not  to  com- 
mit sin  again.  You  will  say  :  "  How  can  a  man  say 
this,  knowing  his  weakness  and  instability?"  The 
answer  is,  that,  if  any  man  sincerely  resolves  not  to 
sin,  and  is  conscious  of  his  own  weakness,  and  afraid 
of  it,  that  is  a  true  and  a  good  resolution,  and  God 
will  accept  it,  even  though  afterwards  through  sud- 
denness or  subtlety  of  temptation  he  should  be  cast 
down.  At  the  time  he  was  perfectly  sincere  in  his 
resolutions,  and  that  is  all  that  God  requires. 

Next,  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  has  three  effects. 
The  first  is  that  it  absolves  or  looses  the  soul  from 
the  bond  of  sin.  We  are  using  metaphors  ;  to  bind 
and  to  loose  is  a  metaphor.  What  is  it  that  binds  a 
soul  ?  It  is  the  sin.  And  what  is  the  sin  %  I  told 
you  in  the  beginning.  It  is  the  variance  or  the  op- 
position of  the  will  against  God ;  it  is  the  crooked- 
ness and  perversity  of  the  will ;  it  is  the  palsy  of  the 
heart,  the  darkness  of  the  conscience ;  this  is  the 
bond  of  sin,  and  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  gives  the 
grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  which  brings  the  will  back  to  God  by  a  change 
wrought  upon  the  will  itself.     The  second  effect  of 


150     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

the  Sacrament  of  Penance  is  that  it  infuses  grace. 
That  is  to  say,  a  man  in  mortal  sin  comes  to  his 
confession  without  charity,  without  the  love  of  God, 
for  this  reason,  that  a  man  in  a  state  of  mortal  sin  no 
longer  has  charity  or  the  love  of  God.  Charity  or  the 
love  of  God  is  the  life  of  the  soul ;  and  if  he  had  this 
life  he  would  not  be  in  mortal  sin.  The  commission 
of  mortal  sin  extinguishes  the  charity  and  love  of 
God  in  him,  and  the  soul  dies  for  that  reason.  He, 
therefore,  when  he  comes  to  accuse  himself,  has 
nothing  left  in  his  soul  but  hope  and  faith ;  he  hopes 
to  be  pardoned,  and  he  believes  that  God  will  par- 
don him  if  his  confession  be  good.  In  that  act  of 
self-accusation,  when  he  receives  his  absolution,  the 
grace  of  charity  is  restored  to  him,  the  life  of  the 
soul  is  given  back,  he  is  united  with  God  once  more, 
he  possesses  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  as  he  did  in 
his  baptism — as  he  did  before  he  fell,  for  the  sacra- 
ment puts  him  back  again  into  the  state  of  grace  as 
at  first.  Thirdly,  it  does  something  further :  it  re- 
stores the  soul  to  its  previous  condition.  You  re- 
member that  I  told  you  some  time  ago  that  if  any 
man  had  lived  a  life  of  faith,  charity,  piety,  gener- 
osity, and  good  works,  and  afterwards  fell  into  one 
mortal  sin,  all  those  fruits  would  be  dead  upon  the 
tree,  because  the  tree  itself  was  dead  ;  but  when  he 
is  restored  to  grace,  all  those  fruits  that  were  once 


THE   GRACE   AND   WORKS    OF   PENANCE.  151 

dead  revive  with  the  tree  also.  The  leaves  expand 
once  more  in  their  tenderness  and  freshness,  and  the 
fruits  are  once  more  ripe  upon  the  bough.  All  the 
acts  of  the  past  life,  which  were  mortified  and  lost 
by  one  mortal  sin,  come  to  life  again;  and  when 
they  are  restored  to  life,  the  merit  of  every  such 
act — and  you  remember  what  I  told  you  merit  is, 
the  link  between  the  action  and  the  reward  con- 
stituted by  the  promise  of  God  in  his  free  and  sove- 
reign grace — all  this  merit  likewise  is  restored ;  and 
with  this,  also,  the  powers  of  the  soul  are  renewed. 
The  soul  in  mortal  sin  had  lost  its  grace,  its 
conscience  was  blind,  its  ear  was  deaf,  and  its  will 
was  weak.  Like  as  our  Divine  Lord,  in  His  miracles, 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  and  the  ears  of  the 
deaf,  straightened  the  feet  of  the  lame,  and  made 
the  man  with  the  withered  hand  to  stretch  it  out 
like  the  other,  so,  when  the  soul  is  restored  by  abso- 
lution and  grace  in  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  the 
powers  of  the  soul  are  again  restored. 

You  see,  then,  what  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  is. 
It  is  the  grace  of  penance  enlarged,  multiplied,  as- 
sured, brought  within  the  reach  of  men,  offered  all 
the  day  long,  within  the  power  of  everybody.  That 
which  in  the  beginning  was  all  over  the  world  in  one 
sense,  but  unseen '  and  secret,  now  is  embodied 
visibly  in  a  sacrament  of  grace,  that  men  may  know 


152     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

where  to  find  the  Fountain  in  which  they  may  wash 
and  be  clean. 

I  can  say  but  few  words  more.  When  He  insti- 
tuted, in  our  behalf,  this  holy  sacrament  out  of  the 
tenderness  of  His  love  and  the  superabundance  of  His 
grace  to  sinners,  our  Divine  Lord  has  set  no  limit 
whatever  to  its  efficacy.  It  is  like  His  own  Precious 
Blood.  It  is  powerful  and  omnipotent  to  cleanse  all 
sin.  He  sets  no  limit ;  there  is  indeed  a  limit,  as 
I  will  show  you,  but  it  is  not  God  who  imposes  it. 
There  is  no  sin  of  any  kind,  howsoever  deep,  dark, 
black  as  midnight,  and  often  committed,  nothing 
so  inveterate,  nothing  which  in  the  sight  of  God  is 
so  hateful,  nothing  which  to  the  soul  of  man  is  so 
deadly,  that  there  cannot  be  absolution  for  it  in  the 
Sacrament  of  Penance.  Do  not  for  one  moment 
imagine  that  you  have  sinned  beyond  the  power  of 
pardon.  There  is  no  man  who  hears  me,  whatever 
his  sin  may  have  been,  who,  if  he  will  turn  and  re- 
pent and  accuse  himself  with  sorrow,  shall  not  be 
washed  as  white  as  snow.  Next,  there  is  no  kind  of 
sin  that  is  beyond  the  reach  of  absolution.  There 
is  no  number  of  sins,  howsoever  frequent,  which 
shall  not  be  pardoned.  Though  a  man  were  to  go 
on  all  his  life-long  sinning  day  and  night,  repeating 
sins  over  and  over  again,  yet  repenting  of  them  on 
his  deathbed,  the  Precious  Blood  shall  wash  him 


THE    GRACE   AND    WORKS    OF   PENANCE.  153 

white  as  snow.  Our  Divine  Lord  has  said  that  "  if 
our  brother  offend  against  us  seventy  times  seven, 
ay,  and  that  in  one  day,  and  turn  and  repent,  we  are 
to  forgive  him."  *  In  saying  that,  He  used  a  form  of 
speech  to  show  there  is  no  number — there  is  no 
numerical  limit.  There  can  only  be  a  moral  limit, 
and  a  moral  limit  there  is  ;  but  what  is  it  ?  I  said 
before  :  "  All  sin  and  all  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven 
unto  men,  save  only  the  blasphemy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  that  shall  never  be  forgiven  in  this  world  or 
in  the  world  to  come."  f  But  what  is  this  blasphemy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  It  is  the  resistance  of  the  known 
truth.  It  is  the  refusal  of  the  grace  of  penance.  It 
is  the  outrage  done  to  the  Absolver  Himself,  the 
Giver  of  Life;  and  that  by  the  impenitence  of  the 
sinner.  The*one  only  sin  which  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  absolution,  the  one  only  sin  which  the  Precious 
Blood  cannot  absolve,  is  the  sin  that  is  not  repented 
of ;  that  is  the  sole  and  only  sin  that  shall  not  be 
washed  as  white  as  snow. 

Finally,  as  our  Divine  Lord  has  set  no  limit  to 
His  forgiveness,  and  as  the  limit  is  set  by  man,  and  by 
man  only  through  his  own  impenitence,  so  our  Di- 
vine Saviour  has  attached  to  this  grant  of  His  pardon 
only  those  conditions  without  which  He  would  cease 
to  be  what  He  is — holy,  just,  true,  and  merciful.  If 
*  St,  Luke  xvii.  4.  f  St.  Matt.  xii.  31. 


154  THE   GEACE  AND  WORKS   OF   PENANCE. 

He  were  to  require  more,  He  would  require  more 
than  we  can  do.  If  He  were  to  require  less,  He 
would  violate  His  own  divine  perfections.  The  Sac- 
rament of  Penance  is  the  Precious  Blood,  and  the 
pardon  of  the  Precious  Blood  let  down  within  the 
reach  of  the  lowest  sinner — lower  it  cannot  be  ;  for 
it  is  within  the  reach  of  all.  The  conditions  which 
are  attached  to  it  are  four  in  number.  The  first 
is  that  we  be  sorry.  He  would  cease  to  be  God — 
He  would  cease  to  be  just,  holy,  and  pure — if  He 
were  to  forgive  those  who  are  not  sorry  for  their 
sins,  who  still  love  them,  and  are  therefore  at  vari- 
ance with  Him,  and  at  variance  with  His  perfections. 
Secondly,  we  must  come  to  Him.  If  the  prodigal 
had  lingered  in  the  far  country,  his  father  could  not 
have  fallen  on  his  neck.  If  Mary  Magdalen  had  not 
broken  into  the  midst  of  that  banquet,  she  would 
not  have  heard  the  words  of  her  absolution.  We,  then, 
must  come  to  Him.  He  has  commanded  us  to 
come.  He  has  said :  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life.  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by 
Me."  *  And  the  way  he  has  ordained  for  penitents 
to  come  to  Him  is  in  self -accusation,  in  the  Sac- 
rament of  Penance.  Thirdly,  when  we  come  to 
Him,  we  must  accuse  ourselves  honestly,  truly,  sin- 
cerely.    There  must  be  no  excusing,  no  painting  of 

*  St.  John  xiv.  6. 


THE   GRACE   AND   WORKS   OF   PENANCE.  155 

the  face.  We  cannot  paint  the  heart,  and  God  looks 
at  the  heart,  and  not  at  the  countenance.  Our  ac- 
cusation must  be  truthful  to  the  very  last.  Every 
mortal  sin  that  we  have  committed  from  our  earliest 
childhood,  so  far  as  we  remember,  it  must  be  at 
some  time  confessed  before  it  can  be  absolved.  It  is 
not  requiring  much  of  the  sinner  that  he  should 
come  and  say  what  is  his  disease,  that  he  should 
show  his  wounds,  and  his  miseries,  and  the  symp- 
toms of  death  that  are  upon  him.  The  physician 
requires  no  more  for  healing,  and  he  can  require  no 
less.  Lastly,  He  requires  of  us  a  steadfast  resolu- 
tion to  sin  no  more,  and  to  avoid  the  occasions  of  sin 
— of  which  I  will  speak  hereafter — that  is,  a  stead- 
fast change  of  the  will,  retracing  the  variance  and 
the  opposition  of  the  will  against  His  will,  and  a  sin- 
cere resolution  to  offend  Him  no  more.  Less  than 
this  He  could  not  require ;  and  more  than  this  He 
does  not.  Here  are  the  four  conditions :  sorrow  for 
having  offended  Him ;  the  coming  to  Him  in  His 
own  way ;  true  self -accusation  ;  and  steadfast  reso- 
lution to  sin  no  more. 

O,  dear  brethren,  anticipate  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. Be  beforehand  with  it.  That  day  is  coming, 
inevitably  coming,  as  the  rising  of  to-morrow's  sun. 
The  day  is  not  far  off  when  the  Great  White  Throne 
will  be  set  up,  and  we  shall  stand  before  Him  ;  and 


156     THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

the  eyes,  that  are  as  a  flame  of  lire,  will  search,  us 
through  and  through ;  and  not  His  eyes  alone,  but 
the  eyes  of  all  men  will  be  upon  us ;  and  the  ears  of 
men  will  hear  that  which  the  accuser  will  say  against 
us  in  that  day.  There  will  be  no  secrecy  then ;  no 
hiding  of  our  sins,  nothing  concealed  from  God,  or 
from  that  multitude  which, is  around  the  Great  White 
Throne.  What  does  He  require  of  you  now  ?  The 
Great  White  Throne  is  veiled  in  His  mercy.  In  the 
holy  Sacrament  of  Penance  He  sits  as  the  Judge,  not 
arrayed  in  the  splendors  which  will  dazzle  and  blind 
us  at  the  Last  Day,  but  as  the  Good  Shepherd,  and 
as  the  Good  Physician,  the  Friend  of  sinners,  who  is 
"  come  not  to  call  the  just,  but  sinners  to  repentance.5' 
There  He  sits  in  His  mercy.  Come  to  Him,  then, 
one  by  one.  Be  beforehand  with  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. That  which  you  confess  now  will  be  blotted 
out  and  forgiven  in  that  day.  That  which  you  hide 
now  will  be  in  the  book  of  God's  remembrance,  laid 
up  for  a  record  in  the  day  of  the  great  assize.  It 
is  not  much  He  requires  of  us — to  come  and  tell  it 
in  the  ear  of  one  man  in  His  stead — a  man  bound 
under  a  seal,  which,  if  he  were  to  break,  he  would 
commit  a  mortal  sin  of  sacrilege ;  a  seal  which  no 
priest  would  break,  even  if  it  cost  him  his  life  upon 
the  spot.  If  it  be  painful  to  you,  if  shame  cover 
your  face,  offer  up  the  pain  and  the  shame  as  a  part 


THE   GRACE   AND  WORKS   OF    PENANCE.  157 

of  the  penance,  as  Mary  Magdalen  in  the  midst  of 
that  great  banquet.  It  is  precisely  for  this  purpose : 
that  the  salutary  pain  may  he  the  medicine  of  our 
pride.  Dear  brethren,  then,  be  beforehand  with  the 
Day  of  Judgment,  while  the  day  of  grace  lasts :  and 
come  to  Him  as  you  are.  Do  not  say,  "  I  must  wait " 
— do  not  say,  "  I  cannot  come  with  all  my  sins  upon 
me,  stained  as  I  am,  covered  from  head  to  foot  with 
spots  crimson  as  blood.  I  cannot  come  as  I  am. 
Let  me  wait  a  little  while.  I  shall  be  better  and 
fitter  hereafter."  Do  not  reason  thus  with  your- 
selves. These  are  the  whispers  of  the  enemy,  who 
desires  to  stand  between  you  and  your  absolution. 
Come  with  all  your  sins  upon  you,  though  they  are 
more  numerous  than  the  hairs  of  your  head,  though 
they  are  black  as  night,  though  they  are  beyond  all 
count  and  all  measure.  Come  just  as  you  are.  If 
you  have  a  mortal  sickness,  would  you  put  off  going 
to  the  physician  until  the  symptoms  are  abated? 
The  more  intense  and  threatening  the  symptoms, 
the  faster  you  will  go  for  counsel  and  for  healing. 
Do  not  say  to  yourselves,  "  I  am  so  hard-hearted.  I 
have  not  a  tear.  I  have  not  the  feeling  of  sorrow." 
How  can  you,  if  you  are  in  sin  ?  It  is  sin  that 
hardens  the  heart  and  dries  the  eyes.  In  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Penance  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  will 
give  you  both  sorrow  and  the  emotion  of  sorrow.   Do 


158    THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE. 

not  say,  "  I  am  so  unstable.  If  I  were  pardoned  to- 
day, I  should  fall  to-morrow."  Are  you  more  likely 
to  stand  to-morrow  because  you  will  not  be  forgiven 
to-day?  O,  no.  Dear  brethren,  whatever  be  your 
sins,  how  many,  however  guilty,  come  with  them  all, 
like  the  poor  woman  who  touched  the  hem  of  His  gar- 
ment, like  the  poor  prodigal,  bare-footed  and  ragged, 
when  he  came  back  to  his  father's  house.  Come 
as  you  are,  and  do  not  lose  time.  Time  and  grace 
are  God's  gift :  we  know  not  how  long  they  may 
last.  At  this  moment  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus 
bleeds  for  you  on  the  Cross,  yearns  for  you  in  heaven. 
The  father  who  saw  the  prodigal  afar  off,  and  who 
ran  to  meet  him,  is  the  pledge,  ay,  and  the  earnest  of 
that  yearning  fervent  love  and  thirsting  desire  with 
which  Jesus  is  waiting  to  forgive  you.  Every  soul 
washed  in  the  Precious  Blood  is  a  joy  to  the  Good 
Shepherd.  He  knows  what  is  stirring  in  you.  He 
has  seen  the  strings  of  your  conscience.  He  has  seen 
the  wavering  of  your  will.  He  has  seen  the  good  im- 
pulses that  have  been  prompting  you.  He  knows  the 
temptations  that  are  keeping  you  back,  and  the  as- 
pirations that  have  been  lifting  you  up  towards  Him 
— the  longing  for  strength  and  courage  to  cast  your- 
self at  His  feet,  and  make  your  peace  with  Him. 
He  knows  all  this.  Dear  brethren,  do  not  resist  Him. 
Take  heed  lest  you  quench  those  emotions  of  grace 


THE  GRACE  AND  WORKS  OF  PENANCE.     159 

that  are  within  you.  How  long,  how  long,  how  long 
shall  He  wait  for?  Remember  His  own  words: 
"  There  is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  doing  pen- 
ance more  than  over  ninety-and-nine  just  persons 
that  need  no  repentance."* 

*  St.  Luke  xv.  7. 


VI. 


TEMPTATION. 


TEMPTATION. 


Then  Jesus  was  led  by  the  Spirit  into  the  desert,  to  be  tempted 
by  the  devil.    St.  Matt.  iv.  1. 

The  Son  of  God,  who  is  Incarnate  Sanctity  and 
Eternal  Life,  when  He  came  into  the  world  to  redeem 
mankind,  placed  Himself  in  the  most  intimate  con- 
tact, possible  to  His  perfections,  with  sin  in  the 
desert,  and  with  death  upon  the  Cross.  In  the 
temptation  in  the  desert,  Jesus  tasted  of  all  the 
bitterness  of  sin,  except  only  of  its  guilt:  in  His 
death  upon  the  Cross,  the  immortal  God  tasted  death 
for  every  man.  Now  I  have  taken  the  temptation  of 
our  Divine  Saviour  as  the  outset  of  our  present 
thoughts,  because  in  itself  it  is  sufficient  proof  of 
what  I  affirmed  some  time  ago,  namely,  that  to  be 
tempted  is  not  to  sin,  and  that  many  who  are  the 
most  tempted  are  innocent.  You  will  remember  I 
*  was  speaking  about  the  distinctions  of  sin,  when  I 
touched  upon  the  subject  of  temptation.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  guard  what  I  was  saying,  lest  those  who  are 

(163) 


164  TEMPTATION. 

tempted,  and  perhaps  sorely  and  habitually,  should 
lose  heart,  and  begin  to  fear  lest  their  temptations  are 
personal  sins.  Now  the  example  of  onr  Divine  Lord 
shows  ns,  that  One  who  is  sinless  may  be  trie  sub- 
ject of  temptation.  He  suffered  temptation  for  our 
sakes,  just  as  He  suffered  death  for  onr  sakes.  He 
suffered  temptation,  in  order,  as  St.  Paul  says,  "  that 
we  may  have  such  a  High  Priest,  not  one  who  cannot 
have  compassion  or  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our 
infirmities,  bnt  one  who  was  tempted  in  all  things 
like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin ; "  *  and  again,  that 
"  He  suffered,  being  tempted,  that  He  might  know  how 
to  succor  or  give  help  to  those  that  are  tempted."  f 
It  was  that,  out  of  His  own  personal  experience,  the 
Son  of  God,  incarnate  in  our  humanity,  might  taste 
of  sin  in  all  its  bitterness,  in  all  its  penalties,  save 
only  that  which  to  Him  is  impossible,  the  guilt  of 
sin,  that  so  He  might  be  a  Saviour  full  of  sympathy 
with  sinners. 

And  now  it  is  necessary  to  observe  the  dis- 
tinction, which  I  have  drawn  with  all  possible  care 
and  precision.  Though  it  is  true  that  temptation 
is  not  sin,  nevertheless  temptation  and  sin  are  very 
nearly  allied — they  are  very  like  each  other,  and 
they  may  be  easily  mistaken ;  secondly,  temptations 
are  the  occasions  of  sin;  and  thirdly,  temptations 
*  Heb.  iv.  15.  f  lb.  ii.  18. 


TEMPTATION.  165 

with  great  rapidity  and  with-  great  facility  pass 
into  sins.  For  this  cause  it  is  necessary  with  all 
accuracy  to  distinguish  between  them.  Perhaps 
some  one  will  say:  "I  can  quite  understand  that 
the  Son  of  God  being  man  was  capable  of  being 
tempted ;  but  that  gives  me  little  encouragement, 
because  every  temptation  presented  to  His  sinless 
,  soul  was  instantly  quenched,  like  as  sparks  falling 
upon  the  face  of  pure  water  are  immediately  ex- 
tinguished ;  but  when  temptations  come  to  me, 
the  sparks  are  struck  upon  the  touchwood,  they 
fall  upon  the  flax,  and  upon  the  dry  leaves  which 
are  ready  to  kindle."  There  is  indeed  this  difference. 
The  temptations  of  our  Divine  Saviour  were  alto- 
gether from  without,  and  none  of  them  from  within ; 
our  temptations  are  indeed  in  great  part  from  with- 
out ;  but  a  very  large  part  of  them,  and  the  worst 
part  of  them,  are  from  within.  They  come  up  out 
of  our  own  hearts,  they  are  in  our  own  thoughts,  in 
our  own  passions,  in  our  own  tempers,  in  our  faculties, 
in  our  memory — here  are  the  lairs  and  the  haunts  of 
temptation.  These  are  the  most  dangerous,  and  the 
example  of  our  Divine  Lord  does  not  reach  to  what 
we  suffer.  Now,  nothing  is  more  certain  than  this, 
that  all  the  sorrows  which  come  upon  a  man  in  life — 
sickness,  pain,  bereavements,  afflictions,  all  the  crosses 
he   may  meet  with,  losses,  disappointments,  bank- 


166  TEMPTATION. 

ruptcy — all  these  things  are  nothing,  compared  with 
the  bitterness,  the  keenness,  of  temptation.  A  man 
may  say :  "  I  could  bear  all  these  things  readily. 
They  come  fr.om  without ;  and  they  have  not  that 
which  is  the  special  suffering  of  temptation,  the 
bitterness  of  sin  is  not  in  them.  They  do  not  come 
between  me  and  God.  Indeed  the  more  of  suffering 
and  sorrow  I  have  in  this  world,  the  more  I  am 
driven  to  the  presence  of  God.  They  are  rods  and 
scourges,  driving  me  nearer  and  nearer  to  Him  ;  but 
my  temptations  come  between  me  and  God.  They 
come  and  cut  me  off  from  Him.  -  They  hang  like  a 
dark  cloud  between  me  and  the  face  of  God.  They 
make  me  feel  it  to  be  impossible  that  God  can  love 
me,  impossible  that  I  can  be  saved,  impossible  that 
I  should  not  be  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  all 
the  day  long.  I  am  like  those  who  are  described  in 
Holy  Scripture,  who  do  many  things  for  the  best ; 
nevertheless,  after  all,  do  not  know  whether  they  are 
the  objects  of  love  or  hatred."* 

Now,  I  dare  say  there  is  not  one  of  you  who 'does 
not  know  and  feel  what  Holy  Scripture  calls  "  the 
wound  of  his  own  heart."  The  wound  of  a  man's 
heart  is  the  great  master  fault,  or  the  besetting  sin, 
or  the  three  or  four  besetting  sins,  such  as  pride, 
anger,  irritability  of  temper,  jealousy,  envy,  slothful- 

*  Eccles.  ix.  1. 


TEMPTATION.  167 

ness,  and  many  others  which  I  need  not  specify.  I 
desire  to  meet  the  objection  of  such  persons,  and  I 
desire  to  show  and  to  prove,  that  it  is  quite  possible 
that  a  man  who  suffers  all  the  day  long  from  tempta- 
tions of  this  kind,  may,  nevertheless,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  be  innocent ;  and  so  far  as  those  temptations 
go,  he  may  be  perfectly  guiltless.  I  do  not  say 
that  this  is  a  common  case,  but  I  say  it  may  be ; 
and,  therefore,  every  one  may,  if  he  will  only  be  faith- 
ful to  the  rules  I  will  hereafter  try  to  lay  down, 
take  to  himself,  at  least  in  part,  this  consolation. 

1.  First  of  all,  then,  temptation  is  inevitable. 
Until  we  have  put  off  our  mortality,  until  corruption 
is  turned  into  incorruption,  we  shall  be  assailed  by 
temptation.  To  be  tempted  is  simply  to  be  man ; 
to  be  man  is  to  be  tempted.  In  Holy  Scripture,  in 
the  book  of  Genesis,  we  read  these  words,  that  "  God 
did  tempt  Abraham ; "  *  but  in  the  Epistle  of  St. 
James,  we  read,  "  Let  no  man  when  he  is  tempted 
say  that  he  is  tempted  by  God."  f  This  seems  to  be 
a  contradiction ;  but  it  is  not  because  the  word 
"  tempt "  is  a  word  of  perfectly  neutral  signification. 
It  does  not  necessarily  mean  "  tempt  with  evil ; "  it 
simply  means  to  "  try  " — "  God  did  try  Abraham  ; " 
for  God  puts  us  on  our  trial,  and  that  in  two  ways. 
lie  either  by  his  providence  sends  us  a  variety  of 
*  Gen.  xxii.  1.  f  St.  James  i.  13. 


168  TEMPTATION. 

afflictions,  or  crosses,  or  losses,  or  contradictions,  by 
which  He  tries  what  our  spirit  is ;  or,  secondly,  He 
permits  that  Satan  should  try  us,  as  He  permitted 
Satan  to  try  and  afflict  Job.  Therefore,  when  it  is 
said  that  God  "  tempts,"  it  means  that  God  tries  us ; 
but  the  other  signification  is  an  evil  one  ;  for  all  the 
temptations  that  come  from  Satan  are  evil  in  them- 
selves. He  never  tempts  any  man  to  good,  unless 
some  accidental  good  may  be  the  occasion  of  evil. 
Now,  it  is  in  this  latter  sense  that  I  am  going  to  speak 
— that  is,  of  our  being  tried  by  evil,  tried  by  Satan. 
God  overrules  even  the  temptations  of  Satan  for  our 
benefit,  as  I  will  show.  I  say,  then,  that  these 
temptations  are  inevitable,  and  that  for  this  reason  : 
from  the  time  when  the  Dragon  and  his  angels  were 
overcome  by  Michael  and  his  angels  in  heaven,  and 
Satan  was  cast  out  with  his  evil  angels  upon  earth, 
from  that  moment  to  this  there  has  been  warfare 
round  about  us.  Remember  that  Satan  is  an  angel 
created  with  an  intelligence  and  a  will  and  a  power 
far  exceeding  that  of  man.  There  is  something 
satanic  in  the  contempt  and  the  ridicule  with  which 
men  treat  Satan.  I  say  it  is  satanic,  because  it  is  a 
satanic  illusion  to  make  men  cease  to  fear  him,  or 
cease  even  to  believe  in  him.  He  is  never  more  com- 
pletely master  of  a  man  than  when  the  man  ridicules 
his  existence — when,  as  we  hear  in  these  days,  men 


v  TEMPTATION.  169 

say,  "  There  is  no  devil."  The  man  most  under  the 
power  of  the  tempter  is  he  who  does  not  believe  in 
the  existence  of  his  enemy.  His  enemy  is  round 
about  him  day  and  night,  and  under  his  feet.  Satan, 
being  of  angelic  nature,  has  an  angelic  intelligence 
greater  than  that  of  man,  pervaded  by  craft  and  by 
subtilty.  He  has  also  an  angelic  will  mightier  than 
ours,  pervaded  by  an  intensity  of  malice.  He  has 
also  a  power  greater  than  ours,  which  is  always 
exerted  out  of  jealousy  against  those  who  are  re- 
deemed in  the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
was  not  shed  for  him  ;  and  he  is  laboring,  there- 
fore, day  and  night,  without  ceasing,  to  destroy  those 
who  are  the  heirs  of  salvation. 

There  are  two  titles  given  to  Satan  in  Holy 
Scripture  :  Our  Lord  called  him  "  the  prince  of  this 
world,"  *  and  St.  Paul  calls  him  "  the  god  of  this 
world  ; "  f  and  therefore  we  have  closely  surrounding 
usj  like  an  atmosphere,  the  world  of  which  he  is  the 
prince,  and,  I  may  say,  the  sanctuary  of  which  he  is 
the  god.  For  what  is  the  world  ?  It  is  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  state  of  the  race  of  mankind  with- 
out God,  pervaded,  darkened,  falsified,  and  corrupted ' 
by  the  influence  of  Satan  into  the  likeness  of  his 
own  malice.  Therefore,  Holy  Scripture  declares 
that  the  world  is  an  enemy  of  God,  an  immutable 

*  St.  John  xiv.  30.  f  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

8 


170  TEMPTATION. 

enemy ;  that  the  world  can  never  be  reconciled 
with  God,  or  God  with  the  world  ;  that  the  world 
can  never  be  purified ;  that  even  the  waters  of 
baptism  only  save  individuals  out  of  the  world ; 
and  that  the  world  itself  will  never  be  saved,  but 
will  be  burned  up  by  fire.  Now,  this  world  signifies 
the  tradition  of  the  sin  of  mankind,  the  world-wide 
corruption  of  human  nature  by  the  sins  of  the  flesh 
and  the  sins  of  the  spirit,  with  all  their  falsehood, 
impiety,  and  malice  against  God.  This  hangs  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  world :  outside  Christendom 
it  reigns  supreme ;  inside  Christendom  it  has  en- 
tered again,  like  as  in  the  time  of  pestilence,  the 
very  air  of  our  dwellings,  after  all  the  care  we  can 
bestow,  is  infected.  Even  among  baptized  nations 
the  spirit  of  the  world,  wafted  from  without,  and 
arising  up  again  under  our  feet  from  the  cor- 
rupt soil  of  human  nature,  is  perpetually  renewing 
itself  ;  and  we  live  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  in 
which  all  the  forms  of  truth  are  distorted,  and  where 
illusions  are  presented  on  every  side,  so  that  men 
are  misled,  and  are  turned  away  from  God  and  from 
His  laws.  We  live  in  the  midst  of  such  a  world, 
and  that  world  we  renounced  in  our  baptism — "  the 
world  with  all  its  pomps  ;"  nevertheless,  it  has  a  per- 
petual action  and  influence  upon  every  one  of  us. 
There  is  what  is  called  the  worldly  spirit,  which 


TEMPTATION.  171 

enters  with  the  greatest  subtilty  into  the  character 
of  even  good  people  ;  and  there  is  what  is  called  the 
time-spirit,  which  means  the  dominant  way  of  think- 
ing and  of  acting  which  prevails  in  the  age  in  which 
we  live  ;  and  these  are  powerful  temptations,  full  of 
danger,  and  in  perpetual  action  upon  us. 

Then,  thirdly,  we  carry  our  temptations  about 
us.  We  have  every  one  of  us  the  three  wounds  of 
original  sin :  ignorance  in  the  understanding ;  tur- 
bulence in  the  affections,  so  that  they  become  pas- 
sions ;  instability  and  weakness  in  the  will.  The 
soul  is  wounded  with  those  three  wounds ;  and  never- 
theless it  is  in  perpetual  motion  in  thought,  word, 
and  deed,  save  only  during  the  time  of  sleep.  In 
our  waking  hours  our  nature  is  in  unceasing  activity, 
and  in  perpetual  anarchy  too,  except  in  those  who, 
being  guided  by  the  Spirit  "of  God,  are  under  the 
influence  of  grace  and  conformed  to  the  truth..  The 
thoughts,  tempers,  affections,  passions  of  the  heart, 
are  in-  a  state  of  ceaseless  turbulence,  so  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  by  the  Prophet  describes  the  heart  in 
these  words :  "  The  wicked  are  like  a  raging  sea  which 
cannot  rest,  casting  up  mire  and  dirt."  *  As  the  sea 
casts  up  from  its  depths  the  soil  under  the  waters, 
so  the  perpetual  activity  of  the  heart  is  casting  up 
the  passions  and  the  sins  that  lie  within  it.     This 

*  lea.  lvii.  20. 


172  TEMPTATION. 

description  applies  in  its  measure  to  every  one  of  us. 
We  are  all  in  this  state  ;  and,  therefore,  the  tempta- 
tions of  Satan,  the  temptations  of  the  world  which  are 
without  us,  and  the  temptations  from  our  own  heart 
within — these  three  temptations  are  inevitable.  We 
cannot  escape  them.  Every  one  of  us  singly  stands 
between  two  spirits — there  is  the  Spirit  of  God  on 
the  one  side,  there  is  the  spirit  of  Satan  on  the  other ; 
and  the  human  spirit,  that  is,  the  soul  with  its  intel- 
ligence, heart,  and  will,  stands  between.  These  two 
spirits,  of  God  and  of  Satan,  are  in  perpetual  conflict 
round  about  us  and  for  us — the  spirit  of  Satan  striv- 
ing to  pervert,  to  delude,  and  to  cast  us  down ;  the 
Spirit  of  God  perpetually  guiding,  strengthening,  and 
upholding  us.  The  thoughts  of  Satan  are  infused 
into  us,  and  also  the  lights  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  and 
sometimes  we  do  not  know  the  one  from  the  other. 
We  sometimes  mistake  the  false  lights  of  Satan  for 
the  lights  of  truth.  We  sometimes  fancy  that  the 
lights  of  truth  which  come  are  only  temptations. 
Sometimes  we  imagine  our  own  human  thoughts  to 
be  the  thoughts  and  the  lights  of  God ;  and  so  we 
deceive  ourselves.  We  are  in  this  constant  state  of 
temptation,  which  is  common  to  all  men. 

2.  Next,  the  universality  of  this  temptation  is  so 
great,  that  there  is  no  state  of  man  that  is  not  visited 
by  it.     Take,  for  example,  sinners,  those  that  live 


TEMPTATION.  173 

voluntarily  in  sin.  Satan  tempts  them ;  they  are  the 
subjects  of-  constant  satanic  temptation  ;  but  be  sure 
that  they  are  not  the  chief  subjects  of  his  tempta- 
tions, for  this  reason  :  they  are  his  servants  already, 
they  are  already  doing  his  will,  they  already  share 
his  own  mind,  they  already  love  those  evils  to  which 
he  tempts  them.  Satan  leaves  his  own  servants  to 
do  their  work  for  him  ;  they  have  united  themselves 
with  his  evil  angels.  When  our  Lord  was  tempted  in 
the  wilderness,  it  was  but  the  lifting  of  the  veil,  and 
the  making  visible  of  that  which  invisibly  is  taking 
place  every  hour  and  every  moment  round  about  us. 
"  We  wrestle  not  with  flesh  and  blood,"  as  the  Apos- 
tle says,  "  but  with  principalities  and  powers,  and  spir- 
itual wickedness  in  high  places  ;"  *  that  is,  with  the 
whole  hierarchy  of  fallen  angels  round  about  us. 
They  are  mingling  among  evil  and  wicked  men  ;  the 
evil  and  the  wicked  have  united  themselves  to  their 
allegiance,  and  Satan  leaves  them  alone,  they  are 
doing  his  work.  The  blasphemer  is  not  tempted  to 
blasphemy.  Why  should  he  be  %  He  blasphemes 
already.  The  unbeliever  is  not  tempted  to  unbe- 
lief— he  has  lost  his  faith.  The  scoffer  is  no  longer 
tempted  to  scoffing — he  scoffs  enough  already  to  sat- 
isfy even  the  "  god  of  this  world."  So  I  might  go 
on  with  every  other  kind  of  sin.    They  have  become 

*  Eph.  vi.  12. 


174  TEMPTATION. 

the  members  of  the  "  mystery  of  impiety."  *  Just  as 
all  faithful  children  of  God  are  members  of  Christ, 
and  the  mind  and  the  will  and  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ 
descend  into  them ;  and  being  living  members  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  they  are  united  to  their  Di- 
vine Head,  so  tho  wicked  and  sinful  are  pervaded  by 
the  mind  and  the  spirit  and  the  will  and  the  malice 
of  Satan :  they  are  members  of  Satan,  members  of 
the  mystical  body  of  Satan,  and  are"  united  to  their 
satanic  head,  and  are  under  his  guidance. 

But,  next,  if  any  one  of  them  strives  to  return  to 
God,  he  becomes  the  subject  of  a  twofold  temptation. 
Satan  follows  up  every  deserter  who  leaves  his  camp, 
and  he  follows  him  with  an  intensity  of  redoubled 
malice.  He  multiplies  all  his  temptations.  Those 
by  which  he  fell  before,  when  he  tries  to  rise  again 
and  to  escape  from  them,  Satan  doubles  their  power 
and  their  effect.  He  never  gives  him  rest.  If  any 
of  you  have  tried  to  break  off  a  fault,  I  have  no 
doubt  you  have  found  that  you  have  been  more 
tempted  to  that  same  fault  from  the  very  time  you 
began  to  master  it.  Need  I  tell  you  why?  Bo- 
fore,  you  were  swimming  with  the  stream ;  but 
when  you  tried  to  break  off  that  fault  you  were 
swimming  against  the  stream,  and  you  felt  the 
strength   of   the   stream  against    you.     That  is  to 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  7. 


TEMPTATION.  175 

say,  you  were  going  onward  before  the  temptation 
until  you  turned  from  sin,  then  you  felt  the  full 
force  of  temptation  against  you  like  the  stream  and 
current  of  a  river ;  and  that  stream  and  current  was 
doubled  by  the  malice  of  the  temper.  He  is  not 
only  very  strong  in  his  temptations,  but  he  is  very 
subtle  ;  and  when  men  begin  to  break  off  sins  of  one 
kind,  he  will  leave  them  perfectly  quiet  on  that  side, 
and  will  tempt  them  on  the  other  to  something  else 
which  is  altogether  unlike  their  former  faults.  As, 
for  instance,  if  any  man  has  been  tempted  to  gross 
sins  and  has  gained  the  mastery,  he  will  find  him- 
self tempted  to  spiritual  sins,  which,  casting  him 
down,  will  bring  him  back  to  where  he  was  before. 
Be  sure  of  it,  whoever  begins,  for  example,  to  mortify 
such  a  sin  as  excess  in  food,  if  he  gains  the  mastery, 
will  find  himself  tempted  perhaps  to  some  spiritual 
sin,  such  as  anger,  ill-temper,  or,  it  may  be,  vain- 
glory at  what  he  ha%  achieved.  It  is  all  one ;  what 
does  it  matter?  There  are  seven  capital  sins,  of 
which  three  may  be  said  to  be  of  the  body  and  four 
of  the  soul,  but  they  all  cast  the  soul  into  hell ;  and 
if  a  man  perishes  by  spiritual  sin,  he  is  just  as  cer- 
tainly condemned  to  eternal  death  as  if  he  perishes 
by  the  grossest  sins  of  the  flesh.  Satan  in  his  sub- 
tlety knows  this,  and  follows  up  every  man  that  has 
turned  away  from  him ;  and  those  who  turn  from 


176  TEMPTATION. 

him  and  strive  to  convert  their  souls  to  God  are  his 
special  objects  of  temptation. 

Even  those  whom  we  call  servants  of  God,  who 
have  really  turned  away  from  Satan,  and  are  con- 
firmed in  a  life  of  faith  and  piety,  they  too  have 
special  temptations.  For  instance,  when  Satan  sees 
any  soul  escape  out  of  his  hands,  and  no  longer 
under  the  dominion  of  the  grosser  sins  of  the  body, 
he  changes  himself  into  the  likeness  of  an  angel  of 
light.  He  knows  that  the  grosser  forms  of  temptation 
will  have  no  more  power,  that  they  will  be  disgust- 
ing and  alarming,  that  they  will  repel  and  will  drive 
the  soul  from  him ;  and  therefore  he  changes  himself 
into  an  angel  of  light.  He  comes  as  a  messenger  of 
peace  and  a  preacher  of  justice  and  a  teacher  of 
purity :.  and  then  he  will  stimulate  and  excite  the 
imprudent  to  strain  after  perfections  of  penance  and 
perfections  of  prayer  and  mystical  reaches  of  the 
spiritual  life,  which  we  read  q£  no  doubt  in  saints, 
but  such  as  are  yet  far  out  of  the  grasp  of  those 
who  are  beginning  to  serve  God.  Nevertheless,  these 
things  are  sufficient  to  turn  the  head  and  to  infuse 
vainglory,  and  to  call  men  off  from  the  humble 
practice  of  daily  duty,  and  make  them  climb  and 
clamber  up  into  high  places,  where  they  have  not  the 
head  to  stand,  and  at  last  they  fall  through  a  spir- 
itual intoxication.     So,  also,  those  who  have  turned 


TEMPTATION.  177 

away  from  him  he  tempts  to  a  censorious  judgment 
of  others.  When  they  have  light  to  know  their  own 
faults  and  their  eyes  are  opened  to  discern  sin,  the 
use  they  make  of  their  enlightened  eyes  is  very  often 
to  be  quick  and  searching  to  find  the  faults  of  their 
neighbors ;  and  by  turning  their  eyes  outwardly, 
which  are  intended  to  be  turned  inwardly,  they  range 
to  and  fro,  finding  out  and  censuring  the  faults  of 
other  people,  and  perpetually  committing  rash  judg- 
ments in  their  hearts,  and  very  often,  sins  of  detrac- 
tion with  their  tongues. 

There  is  also  another  temptation,  even  for  those 
that  are  advancing  far  in  the  way  of  perfection. 
Spiritual  writers  tell  us  that  there  is  a  temptation 
which  they  call  "  the  storm  in  the  harbor  ;"  that  is, 
as  a  ship  which  has  passed  through  a  tempestuous 
sea  and  has  come  at  last  into  the  haven  of  rest,  and 
is  lying  calmly  over  its  anchors,  may  yet  be  struck 
by  lightning  or  by  a  sudden  squall,  and  may  founder 
even  in  the  port  of  safety ;  so  spiritual  pride,  spir- 
itual self-love,  vainglory  at  our  own  imagined  perfec- 
tion, may  wreck  us  at  last.  By  looking  at  ourselves  in 
the  glass,  by  reading  the  lives  of  the  saints  until  we 
believe  we  are  saints,  by  filling  our  mind  with  dispro- 
portionate and  strained  imaginations,  and  then  apply- 
ing them  to  ourselves :  by  dreaming  that  we  are  that 
which  we  can  describe,  and  that  there  is  an  aureola,  a 


178  TEMPTATION. 

crown  of  light  hanging  over  our  heads,  we  may  finally 
cast  ourselves  down  from  God.  These  imaginings 
and  delusions,  which  come  from  a  profound  self-love, 
and  as  profound  a  want  of  self-knowledge,  will  turn 
the  heads  and  the  consciences  even  of  those  who  have 
escaped  from  grosser  sins,  and  make  them  like  Simon 
the  Pharisee,  who,  being  blind  to  his  own  faults,  and 
censorious  of  the  faults  of  others,  was,  in  comparison 
with  poor  Mary  Magdalen,  a  sinner  before  the  eyes 
of  our  Lord  :  or  like  to  the  Pharisee  in  the  Temple, 
who,  after  thanking  God  he  was  not  like  other  men, 
went  down  to  his  house  not  justified  as  the  poor 
Publican  was.  Therefore  we  see  that  temptations  are 
inevitable  and  universal ;  and  whether  you  are  only 
penitents  or  on  the  way  to  be  saints,  do  not  expect 
to  be  exempt  from  them. 

Remember,  then,  that  "there  is  nothing  come 
upon  you,"  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  but  that  which  is 
common  to  man ;  and  God  will  make  also  an  issue, 
or  a  way  of  escape,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  bear 
it."  *  No  temptation  is  a  perfect  circle.  If  indeed  the 
circle  of  temptation  were  complete,  there  would  be 
no  way  out  of  it.  God  never  permits  any  temptation 
to  be  a  perfect  ring  ;  there  is  always  an  outlet,  always 
a  break  out  of  which  the  soul  with  safety  may  escape.  - 

3.  There  is  still  another  reason  why  temptation 
*  1  Cor.  x.  13. 


TEMPTATION.  179 

is  not  sin.  However  much  you  may  be  tempted,  whe- 
ther it  be  to  deadly  sins  or  to  lighter,  it  matters  not, 
those  temptations  will  never  be -imputed  to  you  as 
sins,  unless  you  willingly  consent  to  them.  This  is 
the  way  of  escape  which  is  always  open,  the  sure 
and  certain  issue  by  which  every  soul  may  pass,  even 
out  of  a  furnace  heated  sevenfold.  You  remember, 
some  time  ago  we  laid  down  as  the  essential  condition 
of  sin,  that  it  is  an  evil  act  contrary  to  the  will  of 
God,  with  knowledge  of  the  intellect,  with  the  consent 
of  the  will,  and  with  the  consciousness  of  what  we  are 
doing.  ~Now  that  one  rule  will  precisely  distinguish 
between  sins  and  temptations.  St.  Paul,  in  the 
seventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Komans,  says : 
"  The  good  I  would,  I  do  not ;  the  evil  that  I  would 
not,  that  I  do.  I  consent  to  the  law  of  God  in  the 
inward  man ;  but  I  find  another  law  in  my  members, 
warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing 
me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my 
members.  So  if  I  do  the  evil  that  I  would  not,  it  is 
no  more  I,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me."  *  Therefore, 
he  distinguishes  between  the  indwelling  sin  of  his 
nature  and  himself.  He  says :  "  It  is  no  more  I." 
Why  is  it  no  more  himself  ?  Because  his  will  had 
no  part  nor  lot  in  that  inward  sinfulness. 

The  actions  that   we   do  may   be    distinguished, 
*  Rom.  vii.  15-20. 


180  TEMPTATION. 

therefore,  into  those  that  are  deliberate,  and  those 
that  are  not  deliberate,  or,  as  it  is  called,  indeliberate. 
This  distinction  will  precisely  draw  the  line.  A 
deliberate  action  of  sin  is  what  I  have  described — 
with  knowledge,  consent,  and  consciousness.  An 
indeliberate  action  is  that  in  which  these  elements 
are  wanting.  Bnt  yon  will  say  :  "  How  is  that  pos- 
sible?" It  is  most  possible.  When  we  are  out  in 
the  sun,  we  feel  the  warmth  by  no  act  of  our  own.  If 
the  wind  blows  cold,  we  feel  chilled  by  no  act  of  our 
own  will.  All  round  about  us,  and  all  the  day  long, 
the  images  of  the  world  fill  the  eye,  and  yet  we  can 
only  look  at  one  thing  at  a  time.  Though  we  see  a 
thousand,  we  can  only  look  at  one :  and  that  one  we 
look  at  with  the  act  of  our  will ;  but  all  the  rest  simply 
fall  upon  our  passive  sight.  We  go  through  the  streets, 
we  hear  a  multitude  of  words  to  which  we  do  not 
listen — we  know  their  meaning  as  they  fall  upon 
our  passive  ear.  ISTow  all  these  are  what  I  may  call 
indeliberate  acts.  There  is  no  action  of  the  will  in 
them  :  and  we  can  no  more  hinder  ourselves  from  see- 
ing and  hearing  than  from  being  hot  or  cold.  The 
thoughts  that  are  in  us  are  set  in  motion ;  and  the 
thoughts  weave  their  associations.  The  memory 
revives,  and  gives  up  the  images  of  the  past;  and 
the  imagination  adds  to  them — and  this  process  goes 
on  at  all  hours;   for  in  truth  our  minds  are  never 


TEMPTATION.  181 

at  rest.  Ay,  even  in  sleep  we  dream ;  which  is  a 
reason  to  believe  that,  though  the  body  is  perfectly 
suspended  in  its  conscious  action,  the  mind  is  never 
suspended.  Now  a  great  deal  of  this  mental  action 
may  indeed  become  sin  if  we  consent  to  it ;  but  it 
is  not  sin  if  we  do  not  consent  to  it :  and  that  for 
the  following  reason. 

The  will,  as  I  have  already  said  before,  is  the 
rational  appetite  of  the  soul.  It  is  the  desire  we 
have  in  us,  guided  by  reason,  choosing  and  determin- 
ing what  we  shall  pursue.  But  round  about  the  will 
there  is,  first  of  all,  a  circle  of  affections,  which,  as 
God  created  them,  were  all  pure.  Round  about  the 
affections  are  the  passions,  which,  as  sin  has  wounded 
them,  are  all  of  them  somewhat  in  disorder;  and 
round  about  the  passions  are  the  senses — sight  and 
hearing,  taste  and  touch  —  these  are  the  inlets 
through  which  sin  gains  entrance.  The  Prophet 
says :  "  Death  climbs  up  by  the  windows ;  "*  which 
spiritual  writers  interpret,  of  sin  finding  its  entrance 
through  the  senses — through  the  open  eyes,  the  open 
ears — which  are  like  the  windows  of  the  soul  stand- 
ing wide.  Satan  has  no  power  at  all  to  enter  into 
the  soul  against  our  will.  The  Holy  Ghost  can  enter 
into  the  soul,  because  He  is  the  Creator  of  the  soul, 
and  the  Uncreated  Spirit  of  God  pervades  all  crea- 

*  Jer.  ix.  21. 


182  TEMPTATION". 

tures.  He  is  the  Searcher  of  the  heart,  because  He 
pervades  the  whole  heart.  He  knows  it  all,  because 
He  is  present  in  all  ;  but  Satan  cannot  enter  the 
heart  as  the  Holy  Ghost.  All  that  he  can  do  is 
to  stand  without,  watching  at  the  windows,  and 
casting  in  "  the  fiery  darts."  *  These  "  fiery  darts  "  are 
the  temptations  which  enter  through  the  senses,  fall 
upon  the  passions,  and  kindling  them,  disorder  the 
affections,  and  through  them  affect  the  will ;  but  if 
the  will  does  not  consent,  the  presence  of  any  amount 
of  temptation  may  be  mere  suffering,  and  however 
intense,  it  will  not  be  sin. 

So  that  the  way  to  distinguish  between  what  is 
temptation  and  what  is  sin  is  to  ask  yourselves,  Do 
you  welcome  it  ?  Do  you  open  the  door  ?  Do  you 
throw  up  the  window  ?  Do  you  invite  it  to  come  in 
and  dwell  ?  or  do  you  say :  "  The  Lord  rebuke  thee — 
get  thee  behind  me,  Satan  "  %  How  do  you  receive 
these  temptations  ?  When  the  fiery  darts  are  cast  in 
by  the  window,  do  you  trample  them  out  or  leave 
them  to  kindle,  till  by  the  eye,  or  the  ear,  the  memory, 
and  the  imagination,  are  set  on  fire  ?  You  feel  as  if  a 
touch  had  moved  you ;  as  for  example,  what  is  a  fit 
of  anger  but  a  sudden  touch  of  fire,  which  comes  be- 
fore we  have  a  moment  to  deliberate  %  An  offensive 
answer,  or  some  insolent  gesture,  or  something  done 

*  Eph.  vi.  16. 


TEMPTATION.  183 

in  a  way  to  provoke  the  natural  passion  of  wrath,  will 
immediately  elicit  our  anger.  It  is  in  our  nature ; 
we  cannot  help  it.  As  on  striking  a  flint  you  strike 
a  spark,  so  on  striking  human  nature,  anger  imme- 
diately responds ;  and  that  first  emotion  of  anger  is 
not  sinful.  It  is  a  sin,  if  I  deliberately  welcome  it 
and  say,  "  O,  this  is  just  come  in  time.  This  is  just 
what  I  wanted.  I  have  a  will  to  be  angry."  If  you 
heap  on  fuel,  by  thinking  of  the  offence  that  has  been 
committed,  and  stir  the  fire  to  make  it  burn  more 
fiercely,  then  indeed  you  make  it  your  own.  I  might 
give  other  examples,  but  you  can  find  them  for  your- 
selves, because  every  one  of  the  seven  capital  sins 
may  be  taken  in  like  manner.  I  have  given  the 
example  of  one  only,  to  save  time,  and  also  because 
it  is  better  that  you  make  them  for  yourselves. 

Another  certain  test  whether  it  is  temptation  or 
sin  is  this :  does  the  presence  of  the  temptation  give 
you  pleasure,  or  pain  ?  Do  you  feel  rather  gratified 
by  being  stirred  up  to  a  sense  of  resentment,  or  does 
it  give  you  a  sensible  pain  that  you  have  lost  your 
calmness?  If  you  have  a  sensible  pleasure  in  it, 
then  most  assuredly  you  have  been  consenting ;  if  it 
gives  you  pain,  then  as  certainly  it  is  contrary  to 
your  will.  You  know  it  to  be  contrary  to  the  law  of 
God,  to  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ ;  you  feel  it  to 
be  contrary  to  His  meekness,  His  charity,  His  love, 


184  TEMPTATION. 

His  compassion,  and  His  generosity,  and  you  feel 
inwardly  grieved  and  pained  with  yourself  that  you 
are  so  unlike  Him.  You  know  it  to  be  contrary,  I 
will  say,  to  the  holiness  of  God  and  the  purity  of 
your  own  soul ;  and  therefore  you  hate  the  tempta- 
tion when  it  comes.  You  strive  against  it,  you  re- 
ject it,  you  pray  God  to  rebuke  the  presence  of  the 
tempter  and  bruise  him  under  your  feet ;  then  you 
may  be  well  satisfied  that  all  this  is  a  temptation,  and 
not  a  sin. 

I  will  not  say  that  there  may  not  be  some  ad- 
hesion of  your  will,  some  internal  contract  as  it  were, 
which  for  a  moment  puts  you  in  danger ;  but  the 
example  of  the  first  Adam,  who,  when  he  was 
tempted,  was  sinless,  and  of  the  second,  who  was 
God,  are  proofs  to  us  that  fiery  temptations  which 
we  hate  may  come  upon  innocent  persons. 

4.  All  the  manifold  temptations  of  life  are  used 
by  God  for  these  two  purposes :  first,  to  try  us,  as  I 
have  said,  and  to  increase  our  merit,  and  therefore 
our  reward ;  and  secondly,  to  sanctify  the  soul — out 
of  the  very  temptations  themselves  God  creates  the 
discipline  of  sanctification.  As  to  the  first,  you  un- 
derstand what  merit  is.  We  took  care  to  distinguish 
and  define  with  all  precision  what  is  the  meaning  of 
merit.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  as  creatures  can 
snatch  by  right  anything  out  of  the  hands  of  God ; 


TEMPTATION.  185 

but  that  God  has  promised  He  will  attach  to  certain 
actions  a  certain  reward  of  His  own  sovereign  grace. 
Well,  a  man  is  tempted  to  anger,  ambition,  false- 
hood, or  whatever  you  will — if  he  resists  those  temp- 
tations as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  proves 
himself  to  be  faithful  and  fearless  in  his  warfare. 
If  he  resists  the  temptations  to  sloth,  indulgence, 
and  pleasure,  which  prevail  over  softer  natures,  he 
shows  himself  to  be  a  child  of  God,  and  a  faithful 
friend  to  his  Divine  Friend.  He  proves  that  he  will 
neither  be  scared  nor  bribed  to  give  up  his  fidelity ; 
and  therefore,  every  such  act  of  resistance  to  tempta- 
tion is,  first  of  all,  an  act  of  faith.  It  is  done  for 
motives  of  faith,  it  is  done  because  we  appreciate  the 
goodness  and  love  of  God.  We  make  a  deliberate 
choice  between  God  and  the  temptation ;  and  we  put 
our  foot  on  the  temptation,  that  we  may  hold  fast  by 
God.  Every  single  act  of  resisting  temptation  ob- 
tains merit  and  reward  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  they 
who  are  the  most  tempted  obtain  the  most  merit,  if 
they  faithfully  resist;  so  that  the  life  that  is  har- 
assed and  buffeted  with  temptations  without  ceasing, 
if  we  persevere,  is  laying  up  perpetually  more  and 
more  of  merit  before  God,  and  more  and  more  of  re- 
ward in  eternal  life.  And  every  such  act  of  resistance 
to  temptation  is  an  act  of  love  to  God.  Though  we 
say  nothing,  our  actions  are  always  breathing  up- 


186  TEMPTATION. 

wards :  "  O  my  God,  I  would  rather  die  than  do  this : 
and  that,  for  Thy  sake."  And  every  time  we  so  act, 
God  interprets  it  as  an  act  of  love  to  Himself.  He 
knows  ns  as  our  Lord  knew  Peter,  when  he  said : 
"  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things — Thou  knowest  that 
I  love  Thee."*  And  once  more.  It  is  an  act  of  self- 
mortification.  We  are  mortifying  ourselves  in  the 
doing  of  it ;  and  when  we  mortify  ourselves,  that  act 
is  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
the  Cross,  it  is  an  inward  crucifixion  of  the  flesh,  of 
its  affections  and  concupiscences,  which  is  the  mark 
of  a  true  Christian.  So,  as  I  said  before,  though  a 
man  were  walking  in  the  furnace  of  temptations  of 
'every  kind,  yet  if  he  resists  them  he  is  making  acts 
of  faith,  love,  and  self -mortification  all  the  day  long, 
increasing  his  merit  before  God,  and  the  reward  that 
is  laid  up  for  him  in  heaven. 

5.  And  the  other  effect  is  this  —  that  God  uses 
those  very  temptations  as  the  means  of  our  sanctifi- 
cation.  You  remember  St.  Paul  says :  "  Lest  I  should 
be  lifted  up  by  the  multitude  of  the  revelations,  God 
gave  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan 
to  buffet  me.  And  for  this  cause  I  besought  the 
Lord  thrice  that  it  might  depart  from  me ;  but  He 
said  :  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,  for  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  infirmity  "f — that  is  to  say,  that  God 
*  St.  John  xxi.  15.  f  Cor.  xii.  7. 


TEMPTATION.  187 

made  use  of  his  temptations  to  perfect  him  in  sanc- 
tity. First  of  all,  He  humbles  us  by  them.  There  is 
nothing  that  gives  self-knowledge  so  much  as  temp- 
tation. Until  a  man  is  tried,  nobody  knows  what  is 
in  him.  It  is  an  old  proverb.  Until  a  man  is  tried 
in  temptation,  he  does  not  know  himself.  He  does 
not  know  how  he  will  act  in  any  circumstances,  ex- 
cept those  of  his  ordinary  life,  until  he  is  tried.  A 
man  who  thinks  that  he  is  afar  off  from  being  proud, 
let  him  find  himself  superior  to  his  neighbors;  a 
man  who  thinks  he  is  in  no  danger  of  being  covet- 
ous, let  him  suddenly  become  rieh;  a  man  who 
thinks  he  is  in  no  danger  of  falling  into  particular 
temptations,  some  day  finds  himself  surrounded  by 
them — he  then  learns  what  he  is.  Some  man  who 
thinks  he  could  never  tell  a  lie,  is  taken  all  of  a  sud- 
den— he  falls  from  his  sincerity.  Now  temptation 
teaches  us  to  know  what  we  are.  It  throws  a  light 
in  upon  our  hearts,  and  we  learn  that  before  God  we 
are  spotted  and  stained,  and  full  of  tumultuous  affec- 
tions and  passions,  with  crookedness  in  the  will, 
darkness  in  the  understanding ;  and  when  we  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  this,  it  breaks  down  the  loftiness 
of  our  vainglory.  It  is  a  very  unpleasant  discovery, 
but  very  wholesome — nothing  so  salutary  as  for  a 
man  to  find  his  own  great  instability,  that  he  cannot 
trust  himself.     When  he  has  come  to  know  that  he 


188  TEMPTATION. 

cannot  trust  himself,  then  he  has  come  to  know  his 
need  of  the  grace  of  God ;  and  not  till  then.  We 
read  in  the  life  of  St.  Philip  Neri  two  most  instructive 
passages— the  one  is  this :  he  used  to  have  a  habit  of 
saying,  "  O  my  God,  keep  Thy  hand  on  my  head ; 
for  if  Thou  shouldst  let  me  go,  I  should  break  loose 
and  do  Thee  all  manner  of  harm.  The  wound  in 
Thy  side  is  large,  but  I  should  make  it  larger."  He 
had  such  a  sense  of  his  own  instability,  and  of  his 
own  weakness  by  nature,  that  unless  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  sanctified  and  sustained  him,  he 
knew  he  could  not  stand ;  and  that  if  he  fell,  there 
was  no  knowing  to  what  he  might  go.  This  grew 
upon  him  all  his  life ;  so  that  in  a  sickness  in  which 
they  thought  he  was  near  to  die,  he  prayed  that  God 
would  raise  him  up,  that  he  might  do  a  little  more 
good  before  he  died.  He  was  raised  up  ;  but  some 
years  afterwards  he  fel]  again  sick  unto  death, 
as  all  about  him  believed.  And  for  what  did  he 
pray  then  ?  "  O  my  God,  take  me  away,  that  I  may 
do  no  more  harm."  He  had  learned  to  know  him- 
self profoundly.  Temptations  and  trials  had  made 
him  understand  his  own  nature;  and  in  the  sight 
of  God  he  was  becoming  humbler  and  holier  every 
day. 

Next,  God  uses  temptations  to  chastise  us ;   for 
the  temptations  which  beset  us  are  nine  times  in  ten 


TEMPTATION.  189 

the  effects  and  the  consequences  of  the  faults  and 
sins  of  our  life  past.  God  makes  use  of  the  sins  and 
faults  we  have  committed  in  past  years — in  child- 
hood, boyhood,  youth — to  scourge  and  to  humble  us 
in  our  manhood  and  old  age :  and  He  thereby  brings 
to  our  memory  things  we  should  have  forgotten. 

Lastly,  he  uses  temptations  to  awaken  and  excite 
in  our  hearts  a  hatred  of  sin ;  and  nothing  makes  us 
hate  sin  so  much.  When  once  we  have  turned  away 
from  sin,  and  are  no  longer  consciously  guilty,  then 
the  hatefulness,  hideousness,  deformity,  the  black- 
ness of  sin,  becomes  more  and  more  terrible  to  us  the 
longer  we  live.  In  whose  eyes  is  sin  the  most  hate- 
ful ?  Is  it  hateful  in  the  eyes  of  the  sinner,  or  is  it 
hateful  in  the  eyes  of  God  ?  In  proportion  as  we 
are  free  from  sin,  in  that  proportion  sin  becomes 
hateful.  Just  as  we  grow  in  light  and  in  grace,  in 
purity,  in  sanctification,  just  in  that  measure  sin  is 
hateful  to  us  ;  and  just  as  we  are  tempted  we  learn 
to  know  more  and  more  the  hatefulness  of  sin.  We 
begin  first  by  hating  sin  in  itself,  but  we  do  not  stop 
with  that  abstract  hatred.  Our  next  hatred  is  against 
what  we  were  once.  We  remember  what  we  were 
once  upon  a  time,  we  recollect  what  our  boyhood  or 
youth  was,  and  there  it  is  before  us.  The  sun,  by 
the  photograph,  does  not  take  so  precise  and  so  ter- 
rible a  portrait  as  the  conscience,  enlightened  by  the 


190  TEMPTATION. 

Holy  Ghost,  takes  of  our  past  life.  When  we  see 
what  we  once  were  before  the  grace  of  God  converted 
us,  the  sins  we  committed  in  all  their  darkness  and 
in  all  their  multitude,  in  all  their  perversity  and  in 
all  their  ingratitude — when  all  this  is  before  us  and 
we  see  our  past,  the  character  we  once  had,  hanging 
like  a  portrait  on  the  wall,  drawn  by  the  pencil  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  in  all  its  hideousness,  we  hate  our- 
selves. We  hate  what  we  were  then ;  and  we  hate 
everything  that  reminds  us  of  it — the  places,  the  per- 
sons, the  memorials,  the  tokens — everything  associ- 
ated with  it.  Ay,  the  music  and  the  pictures,  and  the 
objects  of  sight,  the  books,  and  tales,  and  poems,  the 
persons  whose  influence  and  whispers  were  in  time 
past  the  darkness  and  downfall  of  our  soul- -all  this 
is  hateful.  And  we  go  on  farther.  Our  present  self, 
our  present  character,  full  of  imperfections,  ay,  and 
more  than  that — and  the  more  we  know  ourself  in 
the  light  of  God's  presence,  the  more  we  shall  come 
to  have  that  humble  sense  of  self-abhorrence,  which, 
in  the  sight  of  God,  is  the  mark  of  a  true  penitent. 

Now,  brethren,  I  have  given  you  the  way  to  dis- 
tinguish between  sins  and  temptations,  and  I  say 
with  confidence  that  anybody  who  can  look  upon  his 
past  and  upon  his  present,  with  this  feeling  of  hatred, 
and  sorrow,  and  humility,  may  console  himself  with 
the  conviction  that,  whatever  temptations  beset  him 


TEMPTATION.  191 

from  without,  his  heart  and  his  will  are  intensely 
and  firmly  set  against  those  temptations,  and  that 
sin  has  no  part  in  him  :  "  It  is  no  more  I,  but  sin 
that  dwelleth  in  me."  *  I  then  have  given  you  the 
reasons,  first,  that  temptation  is  inevitable,  that 
temptation  is  universal,  that  temptation  which  is  not 
consented  to  is  not  sin,  that  temptation  resisted  is  a 
perpetual  increase  of  merit,  and  temptation  resisted 
brings  a  continual  growth  of  sanctification. 

I  have  now  only  two  simple  counsels  to  add. 
All  this  is  true,  subject  to  two  conditions.  The  one 
is  that  we  avoid  the  occasions  of  sin.  You  know 
what  the  word  means.  There  is  a  difference  between 
an  occasion  of  sin,  and  a  temptation  to  sin.  A 
temptation  to  sin  means  a  positive  danger,  present 
here  and  now ;  but  an  occasion  of  sin  may  mean 
something  lawful  in  itself  which  may  lead  us  on  to 
the  danger  of  sin.  The  occasions  may  sometimes 
be  lawful  things  altogether,  innocent  things  which, 
like  slippery  places  in  our  path,  deceive  our  tread. 

There  are  three  reasons  why  we  are  bound  to 
avoid  the  occasions  of  sin.  The  first  is  this,  that  no 
man,  when  he  makes  his  confession  kneeling  under 
a  crucifix,  can  make  a  good  confession,  or  can  escape 
the  risk  of  a  sacrilegious  confession,  and  no  man  can 
receive  a  valid  absolution,  who  does  not,  at  the  time 

*  Rom.  vii.  17. 


192  TEMPTATION. 

when  he  accuses  himself  of  his  sins,  make  a  firm, 
sincere,  and  steadfast  resolution  to  avoid  those  sins 
and  all  that  leads  to  them.  If  he  has  not  got  the 
will  to  give  up  the  occasions  which  have  caused  him 
in  past  times  to  sin,  and  to  commit  the  very  sins  of 
which  he  is  now  asking  absolution  in  the  presence  of 
God,  it  is  a  perfect  certainty  that  he  has  not  the 
sorrow  which  is  necessary  for  the  sins  he  has  com  - 
mitted.  Now,  there  are  two  kinds  of  occasions  :  there 
are  some  which  are  called  necessary,  and  some  that 
are  called  voluntary.  The  distinction  is  this :  let 
me  suppose  for  a  moment  that  some  of  you  are 
tempted  to  unbelief — I  trust  in  God  none  of  you 
are — but  let  me  suppose  it  as  possible,  and  that 
you  have  a  brother  living  in  the  same  house  with 
you,  who,  unfortunately  being  an  unbeliever,  pours 
out  all  kinds  of  infidel  objections  and  rationalistic 
doubts  against  the  revelation  of  God.  You  cannot 
leave  your  home — you  cannot  send  him  out  of  it — 
there  he  is.  You  are  obliged  to  dwell  with  him.  It 
is  an  occasion  of  temptation  to  you,  and  may  be  an 
occasion  of  sin.  You  cannot  get  rid  of  it — it  is 
necessary — there  it  abides — it  is  beyond  your  power 
and  control.  God  will  not  call  you  to  an  account  for 
not  leaving  your  home  under  those  circumstances  ? 
But  if  you  voluntarily  and  willingly  seek  conversation 
on  those  matters  with  such  a  person,  that  is  your 


TEMPTATION.  193 

voluntary  act ;  and  if  yon  do  so  yon  are  responsible  ; 
and  unless  you  steadfastly  resolve  not  to  do  so,  you 
cannot  have  absolution  of  those  sins  of  doubt  against 
faith,  into  which  you  have  voluntarily  plunged  your- 
self. I  give  this  as  an  example.  Apply  it  in  your 
own  heart  to  every  form  of  sin  and  of  temptation .  I . 
will  not  particularize,  but  you  know  perfectly  well 
how  easily  you  may  transfer  the  example  I  have  given 
to  every  other  kind.  It  is  necessary,  then,  to  your 
valid  absolution  that  you  should  steadfastly  resolve 
to  avoid  every  voluntary  occasion  of  sin. 

Secondly,  it  is  a  part  of  the  reparation  due  from 
you  to  our-  Divine  Saviour,  that,  having  offended 
Him,  you  will  not  allow  yourselves  to  be  drawn  back 
into  the  same  occasions.  The  spirit  of  reparation 
which  you  owe  to  Him,  after  He  has  absolved  you  in 
His  Precious  Blood,  is  steadfastly  to  resist,  and  watch- 
fully to  avoid  all  those  circumstances  and  occasions 
which  have  led  you  to  offend  Him  before.  We  read 
in  the  book  of  Acts  that  the  Christians  at  Ephesus 
were  given  to  what  are  called  "  curious  arts,"*  omens, 
magic,  superstition,  and  the  like.  When  they  were 
illuminated  by  the  faith,  they  brought  their  books " 
and  burned  them  in  a  public  place.  The  people  of 
Milan,  after  a  mission,  collected  together  their  foolish 
books,  romances,  poetry,  bad  books  and  bad  pictures, 

*  Acts  xix.  19. 
9 


194  TEMPTATION. 

masks,  dresses  used  in  masquerades,  musical  instru- 
ments used  in  vanity  and  folly,  the  luxurious  and 
ostentatious  ornaments  of  their  persons,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  other  things,  as  cards,  dice,  the  means  of 
gambling,  folly,  and  loss  of  time,  whatsoever  had  been 
to  them  causes  of  temptation — they  brought  them 
all  together  into  the  Piazza  del  Duomo,  and  made 
of  them  a  great  bonfire.  I  am  not  going  to  ask 
you  to  make  a  great  bonfire  in  the  streets  of  Lon- 
don ;  but  what  they  did  materially,  you  may  do  spir- 
itually and  morally,  every  one  of  you.  Yon  know, 
and  will  find  out,  what  things  have  been  the  cause 
and  occasion  of  sin  to  you,  not  only  in  deed,  but 
in  word,  in  thought,  in  imagination.  Give  them  up 
— have  nothing  to  do  with  them — put  them  far 
from  you — turn  your  face  from  them — put  your  foot 
on  them ;  and  then,  if  your  temptations  recur,  you 
may  look  up  in  the  face  of  your  Heavenly  Father 
and  your  Divine  Master,  and  take  the  peace  of 
knowing  that  the  recurrence  of  those  temptations 
is  chastisement  and  humiliation,  and  not  your  pres- 
ent fault.  I  do  not  wish  to  go  into  particulars ;  to 
do  so  would  lead  me  into  minute  details  which  it  is 
well  rather  to  avoid.  It  is  better  rather  to  give 
principles  and  rules,  because  men  of  mature  mind, 
persons  of  Christian  faith,  will  be  able  to  make  an 
application  ;  but  I  will  mention  the  names  of  a  few 
of  these  things. 


TEMPTATION.  195 

1  ask,  first  of  all,  in  the  use  of  jour  food,  how 
much  money  is  wasted  in  the  needless  indulgence  of 
the  palate  ?  What  delicacy  and  fastidiousness  of 
pleasing  the  taste  is  to  be  found  where  nobody  would 
suspect  it !  How  much  money  is  wasted  in  drink  ! 
and  I  am  not  speaking  to  you  as  I  should  speak  if  I 
were  in  some  other  part  of  my  flock ;  but  I  must 
say  that,  even  in  those  who  are  educated,  who  be- 
long to  the  upper  region  or  stratum  of  society,  there 
is  an  amount  of  excessive  indulgence  in  those  things 
which  blunts  the  intelligence,  unnerves  the  will, 
relaxes  the  habits  of  life,  deadens  the  heart,  extin- 
guishes the  spirit  of  piety,  disturbs  the  peace  of 
homes,  and  may  lead  on  to  worse.  I  am  bound  to 
tell  you  openly  that,  even  among  persons  of  educa- 
tion, refinement  and  of  birth,  every  Priest  in  his 
experience,  and  I  myself  in  mine,  have  known  terrible 
examples  of  this  bondage  to  drink,  which  has  con- 
tinued even  unto  death.  How  many  miserable  souls 
have  died,  bound  in  chains  of  a  vice  which  began 
perhaps  with  habits  like  your  own,  never  suspected 
it  at  first,  until  at  last  they  become  indissoluble. 
Therefore,  I  say,  in  your  food,  in  eating  and  drinking, 
be  simple,  be  self-denying.  Have  the  high  common 
sense  of  Christians;  do  not  care  for  such  things; 
give  no  thought  to  them.  The  Church  enjoins  fast- 
ing and  abstinence  ;  but  fasting  and  abstinence  seem 
dying  out.     Why  \    Because  people  are  growing  so 


196  TEMPTATION. 

self-indulgent  and  so  fanciful.  Their  health  will  not 
stand  it,  and  their  physician  says  they  cannot  en- 
dure it,  and  sometimes  even  their  confessor  is  be- 
sieged until  he  gives  way.  There  is  a  law  of  liberty 
by  which  we  are  to  be  judged  at  the  Last  Day. 
St.  James  says :  "  So  speak  ye  and  do  as  being  to  be 
judged  by  the  law  of  liberty."  *  Now  I  am  appealing 
to  you  in  the  liberty  of  Christians,  in  the  generosity 
and  gratitude  of  those  who  have  been  redeemed  by 
the  Precious  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  say,  deny 
yourselves  in  these  trivial  but  dangerous  things. 

Next,  there  is  a  subject  too  large  for  me  to  do 
more  than  touch — I  mean  your  dress.  I  put  it  first 
upon  the  ground  of  costliness  and  expense  and  waste 
of  money  ;  but  I  may  not  put  it  on  that  only.  Dear 
brethren,  I  always  avoid  entering  into  details  on  this 
matter.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  colors,  forms, 
and  fashions — these  are  things  which  belong  to  you ; 
but  I  have  to  do  with  the  morals  of  dress.  I  have 
to  do  with  the  faults  that  spring  from  luxury  in 
dress ;  and  the  sin  to  which  luxury  and  ostentation  of 
dress  may  lead,  that  I  have  to  deal  with ;  and  what 
I  always  try  to  do  is  to  lay  down  counsels  of  broad 
Christian  common  sense.  I  only  wish  you  knew 
where  fashions  come  from — from  some  obscure  room, 
in  some  luxurious  and  corrupt  city,  where,  by  a 
*  St.  James  ii.  12. 


TEMPTATION.  197 

sort  of  secret  society  of  folly,  rules  are  laid  down 
and  decrees  come  forth  year  after  year,  which  are 
followed  with  a  servility  and,  I  may  say,  with  a  want 
of  Christian  matronly  dignity,  so  that  the  foolish 
fashion  that  some  foolish  person  has  foolishly  in- 
vented is  propagated  all  over  the  civilized  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  From  winter  to  winter  and  spring 
to  spring  our  nearest  friends  are  hardly  to  be  rec- 
ognized. They  are  dressed  up  and  built  up  and 
masqueraded  in  a  way,  sometimes,  to  provoke  laugh- 
ter, or  pity,  or  regret.  I  must  tell  you  what  once 
happened  to  me.  I  was  walking  through  one  of  our 
parks  and  I  saw  three  persons,  of  whom  one  was 
dressed  according  to  the  novelty  of  some  fashion  then 
coming  in,  and  there  followed  behind  them  two  plain 
working  men.  I  heard  one  say  to  the  other,  "  She 
only  does  it  to  be  looked  at ! "  Remember  these  words 
of  just  reproof.  That  is  the  estimate  which  is 
formed  of  fashion  by  the  good  solid  sense  of  the 
English  people.  They  pity  it  and  despise  it.  Our 
forefathers  and  the  women  of  another  age  did  not 
bend  and  undulate  with  every  wind  that  is  wafted 
over  the  sea.  They  dressed  and  attired  themselves 
as  Christian  women,  taking  counsel  of  their  good 
sense,  and  attiring  themselves  as  was  befitting  their 
station  in  life,  without  singularity  of  plainness, 
which   is   one   of   the    affectations   of   vanity,  and 


198  TEMPTATION. 

without  a  servile  copying  of  fashion,  which  is  the 
spirit  of  this  world.  This  will  give  you  certain  prin- 
ciples, and  all  I  will  add  is,  that  there  was  a  time 
when  in  Lent  people  wore  black.  I  do  not  say  it 
made  them  more  pious  or  penitent,  but  I  do  say  it 
is  more  in  accordance  with  the  time  of  humiliation 
and  fasting  than  the  gewgaws  and  glaring  colors, 
peacocks'  tails  and  rainbows,  which  are  to  be  seen 
not  only  in  our  streets,  but  round  about  our  altars. 
There  was  a  custom,  only  a  little  while  ago  (and  it 
prevails  now  in  Catholic  countries),  that  no  woman 
came  into  the  house  of  God  except  her  head  was 
covered ;  by  the  wearing  of  a  veil,  or  at  least  some 
such  covering  of  the  head.  It  is  enjoined  in  Scrip- 
ture, and  enjoined  too  by  a  law  on  the  door  of  every 
church  in  Rome,  ay,  and  at  this  moment  I  believe  it 
is  still  to  be  found  there.  I  doubt  even  if  the  revo- 
lution has  taken  it  down.  I  remember  that  as  long 
as  Rome  was  the  City  of  the  Yicar  of  Jesus  Christ, 
women  were  wont  to  come  to  the  church  in  fitting 
attire.  I  leave  this  again  to  you.  Now  I  have  done ; 
this  is  a  subject  beyond  me,  except  so  far  as  the 
morals  of  dress.  All  the  rest  of  it  I  leave  to  your 
good  sense  and  to  your  piety. 

I  cannot  dwell  on  the  other  points,  but  I  would 
say:  study  well  what  you  can  do,  in  a  spirit  of 
liberty  and  generosity,  in  the  expenditure  of  money. 


TEMPTATION.  199 

See  how  many  thousands  are  in  want !  The  hos- 
pitals of  London  will  not  contain  the  one-fifteenth 
part  of  those  that  are  mortally  sick ;  and  we  go 
about  spending  money  without  thinking  of  those 
who  are  dying  round  about  us.  There  are  tens  of 
thousands  of  children  perishing  in  the  streets  with- 
out Christian  education ;  and  we  can,  with  all  pos- 
sible calmness,  go  and  squander  our  money  upon 
ourselves.  I  apply  the  same  to  your  pleasures.  I 
am  no  rigorist  and  no  puritan,  and  I  love  to  see 
people  happy  and  to  look  on  at  their  innocent  enjoy-, 
ment ;  but  there  are  some  kinds  of  enjoyments  and 
amusements,  some  kinds  of  tastes,  which  a  Christian 
instinct  forbids  us  to  approve.  Dear  brethren,  I 
hope  you  will  consult  Holy  Scripture  and  your  con- 
science, and  see  what  kind  of  amusement  and  what 
kind  of  pleasure  you  will  look  back  on  calmly  from 
your  deathbed,  and  what  kind  of  enjoyment  will  give 
you  peace  in  that  hour.  Lastly,  I  would  say  to  you, 
make  a  resolution  this  Lent — for  Lent  is  now  finish- 
ing. We  shall  meet  again  on  Good  Friday  to  medi- 
tate upon  the  Passion  of  our  Divine  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Make  now  some  one  reso- 
lution  of  self-denial  out  of  your  full  Christian  liberty ; 
offer  up  something  as  a  memorial.  I  will  not  pre- 
scribe it ;  choose  it  for  yourselves. 

Prayer,  piety,  watchfulness,  self-denial,  and  purity 


200  TEMPTATION. 

of  heart  —  these  five  things  will  keep  your  will 
firm,  and  if  your  will  be  firm  it  will  expel  every 
temptation  that  enters  by  the  senses,  or  by  the 
passions,  or  by  the  affections,  as  the  flame  of  a  fur- 
nace which  consumes  everything  that  approaches  to 
its  mouth.  It  will  expel  and  cast  out  of  you  all 
things  contrary  to  your  sanctiiication.  Remember 
then  what  our  Lord  has  promised.  He  suffered 
temptation  that  He  might  have  a  fellow-feeling  with 
you ;  and  you  may  appeal  to  Him  in  your  tempta- 
tions. You  may  say,  "  O  my  Lord,  who  didst  suffer 
in  the  desert  for  my  sake,  Thou  seest  the  power  of 
this  temptation  which  is  upon  me.  Have  pity  on 
me ;  uphold  me,  for  of  myself  I  cannot  stand."  He 
knows  how  to  feel  with  those  who  are  tempted,  and 
in  the  midst  of  your  temptations  He  is  perpetually 
saying  to  each  one  of  you  :  "  He  that  overcometh,  to 
him  I  will  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  Life,  whiih  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  my  God.  He  that  over- 
cometh shall  be  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God, 
and  he  shall  go  no  more  out.  To  him  that  over- 
cometh I  will  give  to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna  and  a 
white  counter,  and  on  the  white  counter  a  new  name 
written,  which  name  knoweth  no  man  save  only  him 
that  receiveth  it.  He  that  overcometh  shall  sit  down 
in  My  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame  and  am  sat 
down  in  the  throne  of  My  Father."  * 
*  Apoc.  ii.  7, 17 ;  iii.  12,  21. 


VII. 
THE  DERELICTION  ON  THE   CROSS. 


9* 


THE  DERELICTION  ON  THE  CROSS. 


From  the  sixth  hour  there  was  darkness  over  the  whole  earth 
until  the  ninth  hour ;  and  about  the  ninth  hour,  Jesus  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  saying :  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ?  that  is  to  say, 
My  God,  My  God, why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  ?  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  54. 

It  was  about  the  third  hour  when  Jesus  set  out  on 

the  way  to  Calvary ;  and  it  was  towards  the  sixth 

hour  that  He  reached  the   place   of    His   passion. 

They  stripped  Him  of  His  garments,  and  left  Him 

sitting  in   the  cold,  withering  morning  wind ;   and 

they  began  to  prepare  the  crosses  of  the  crucifixion. 

He  sat  patiently  waiting,  in  His  wounds,  upon  the 

top  of  that  hill ;  and   at  last,  when  the  cross  was 

ready,  He  was  nailed  upon  it.     The  cross  was  lifted 

up  in  the  eyes  of  men ;  and  the  Son  of  God  was 

seen  stripped  and  stretched  upon  it,  hanging  by  the 

weight  of  His  whole  body  upon  the  nails,  driven 

through  His  hands  and  feet.     They  then  began  to 

crucify  the  thieves  that  were  with  Him ;  and  some 

time  passed,  while  He  was  all  alone  in  His  agony. 

(203) 


204:  THE    DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS. 

They  were  so  busy,  they  were  so  intent  upon  this 
work  of  death — plying  the  hammer  and  the  nails  in 
the  cruel  work  of  crucifixion — and  the  people  who 
stood  by  were  so  fixed  upon  the  scene  of  horror,  that 
no  one  perceived  that  the  sky  was  growing  sickly, 
that  the  morning  became  yellow,  that  a  mist  was 
covering  the  sun,  and  that  shadows,  like  the  shadows 
of  the  evening,  were  falling  upon  the  earth.  These 
things  they  did  not  perceive,  till  of  a  sudden  the 
thick  darkness  became  palpable ;  then  they  became 
conscious  of  it  as  in  a  moment.  They  felt  it  to  be  a 
portent  and  a  sign  of  the  anger  of  God.  Thick 
darkness  covered  the  hill  of  Calvary  ;  and  the  people, 
one  by  one,  began  to  stream  away  from  the  top  of 
the  mountain  and  from  that  sight  of  horror — struck 
with  fear  but  not  with  repentance — overwhelmed 
by  horror  of  that  supernatural  darkness.  And  if 
there  was  fear  upon  Calvary,  what  was  there  in 
Jerusalem?  If  the  birds  became  silent,  and  the 
creatures  of  the  field  herded  together,  as  in  some 
unwonted  terror,  what  was  the  fear  that  fell  upon 
men  %  What  was  the  terror  that  fell  upon  the  multi- 
tude who  had  cried  out,  "  His  blood  be  upon  us,  and 
upon  our  children  V*  *  They  already  saw  the  witness 
of  God's  wrath  coming  to  take  them  at  their  word. 
Along  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  men  could  not  find 

*  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  25. 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS,  205 

their  way ;  they  encountered  one  another  in  the  dark- 
ness ;  they  fell  flat  on  the  earth  for  fear ;  or  sat  on 
the  doorsteps,  not  knowing  where  to  iind  their  home. 
If  there  was  fear  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  what 
was  there  in  the  houses  of  Annas  and  of  Caiaphas 
and  of  Pilate  ?  What  was  there  in  the  homes  and  in 
the  hearts  of  those  who  had  consciously  shed  the 
innocent  blood?  The  darkness  was  also  upon  the 
Temple,  and  in  the  courts  of  the  Temple,  and  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies ;  and  the  priests  could  not  see  to  ac- 
complish the  sacrifice.  The  sacrifice  was  interrupted, 
and  they  could  not  see  each  other's  face.  The  Sanc- 
tuary was  filled  with  the  tokens  of  the  wrath  of 
God  and  of  the  departure  of  His  Presence.  Such  was 
the  darkness  which  covered  all  the  earth ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  it,  and  in  a  darkness,  if  possible,  deeper  than 
that  which  was  visible,  Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice  : 
"  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  V 
Now,  brethren,  this  is  the  part  of  our  Lord's 
Passion  to  which  I  wish  to  draw  your  thoughts,  and 
I  wish  to  connect  it  with  the  profound  truth  on 
which  our  minds  have  been  set  in  all  the  past  days 
— I  mean  the  sorrow  for  sin,  the  conversion  of  the 
soul,  contrition  of  heart,  the  grace  of  compunction, 
by  which  we  obtain  pardon  through  the  Most  Pre- 
cious Blood.  But  here  is  a  wonder  and  a  mystery. 
That  God  should  become   incarnate  is  in  itself  a 


206  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS. 

mystery  of  faith ;  and  yet,  to  God's  omnipotence  all 
things  are  possible.  That  God,  being  made  man, 
should  be  tempted,  seems  to  follow  from  the  nature 
of  His  humanity — that  being  made  man  He  should 
die  is  only  the  law  of  man,  and  He  accepted  it  for 
our  sakes ;  but  that  He  should  be  forsaken  of  His 
Father,  that  His  sinless  soul  should  be  darkened, 
that  He  should  taste  this  penalty  which  is  attached 
to  guilt — this  is  indeed  a  mystery,  this  is  a  wonder 
which  surpasses  all  beside.  Let  us,  then,  try  to 
understand  what  was  this  dereliction,  this  isolation, 
this  darkness,  this  solitude  of  the  divine  soul  of 
Jesus — let  us  trace,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  us, 
what  was  its  nature,  what  were  its  reasons,  what  are 
its  instructions  to  us. 

1.  It  consisted  in  three  things ;  and  the  first  of 
those  three  things  was  the  unutterable  and  uncon- 
soled  and  unrelieved  pain  of  the  body.  When  He 
was  in  His  temptation,  after  He  had  fasted  forty 
days  and  forty  nights,  angels  came  and  ministered 
unto  Him.  He  was  refreshed  in  the  f aintness  and  in 
the  exhaustion  of  His  temptation.  In  the  Agony  of 
the  Garden,  when  He  sweat  great  drops  of  Blood, 
there  was  seen  an  angel  from  heaven  strengthening 
Him.  Holy  angels  were  about  Him  in  His  tempta- 
tion and  in  His  Agony;  but  upon  the  Cross — not 
one.    There  was  no  ray  of  consolation,  no  ministering 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS.  207 

of  relief ;  He  hung  upon  the  Cross  with  the  whole 
weight  of  His  Sacred  Humanity,  and  with  the  unre- 
lieved anguish  of  His  frame.  As  He  had  said  before : 
"  Thinkest  thou  not  that  I  cannot  ask  My  Father,  and 
He  would  send  Me  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?"  *  if  He 
had  had  the  will  to  ask  it,  there  would  have  been 
angelic  ministries  in  myriads  round  about  Him.  He 
had  not  the  will  to  ask  it :  He  deprived  Himself  of 
their  ministry  and  of  their  relief ;  and  He  seemed  to 
plead  with  his  Father,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Thou 
knowest  My  need,  and  yet  I  will  not  ask  it.  Thou 
knowest  well  My  weakness  and  My  pain,  and  Thou 
couldst  relieve  Me  if  Thou  wouldst ;  and  if  in  Thy 
wisdom  Thou  seest  it  good,  I  trust  Myself  in  Thy 
hands — I  will  not  ask  Thee." 

It  is  impossible,  dear  brethren,  for  any  words  of 
ours  to  draw  out,  or  in  the  least  to  describe,  the 
agony  of  the  crucifixion  ;  and,-  for  myself,  I  always 
feel,  when  attempts  are  made  to  picture  or  to  paint 
the  agonies  of  the  Cross,  that  they  not  only  fall  short 
of  our  thoughts,  but  they  seem  to  deaden  our  feel- 
ing. How  is  it  possible  to  understand  the  agony 
of  those  cold  wounds,  from  a  whole  night  of  scourg- 
ing, the  long  hours  in  which  His  Sacred  Flesh  was 
furrowed  to  the  bone  %  And  now  those  wounds,  grown 
cold  in  the  chill  of  the  night,  were  opened  once  more 
*  St.  Matt,  xxxvi.  53. 


208  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS. 

upon  Calvary,  when  from  His  sacred  body  they 
rudely  dragged  His  garments,  all  clotted  with  dried 
blood  and  cleaving  to  His  wounds.  Who  can  con- 
ceive this  bodily  anguish  ?  Who  can  imagine  the 
crown  of  thorns  with  which  He  had  been  twice 
crowned;  which  had  been  beaten  upon  His  head, 
and  had  been  torn  from  His  head  in  the  stripping, 
and  again  forced  upon  His  brows — that  crown  of 
thorns,  which  hindered  all  power  of  resting  His 
head  upon  the  Cross ;  for  if  it  touched  the  Cross, 
the  thorns  pierced  deeper?  Or  who  can  conceive 
the  rending  of  those  wounds  when — the  sharp  nails 
driven  through  his  hands  and  feet — the  whole 
weight  of  his  body  stretched  and  tore  them  open 
till  the  very  structure  of  the  hands  and  feet  was 
distorted?  Or  who  can  conceive  the  thirst — the 
parching,  the  drying  thirst  of  that  Sacred  Body,  which 
wrung  from  Him  the  cry,  "  I  thirst " — that  is,  the 
dying  of  the  whole  frame  when  the  vital  spirits  ebbed, 
the  draining  of  blood,  the  chilling  of  the  wind,  the 
fulfillment  to  the  letter  of  the  words  of  the  Psalmist 
in  prophecy :  "  My  tongue  cleaveth  to  the  roof  of  my 
mouth.  Thou  hast  brought  me  into  the  dust  of 
death  V  *  Dear  brethren,  I  cannot  attempt — and  I 
feel  you  would  rather  I  should  not  attempt,  but  that 
I  should  leave  to  your  hearts — the  conception  of  the 

*  Psalm  xxi.  16. 


THE  DEEELICTION   ON   THE   CROSS.  209 

bodily  pains  of  our  Divine  Redeemer.  And  all  this 
without  relief.  There  was  no  ministry  of  so  much 
as  one  angel  to  help  Him ;  there  was  no  diminution 
of  one  anguish  of  the  body ;  but  He  suffered  to  the 
last  all  the  agony  of  His  crucifixion  ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  it  His  Heavenly  Father  left  Him  there,  to 
drink  of  the  chalice  which  he  had  chosen,  even  to 
the  last  drop,  and  all  alone  to  die. 

2.  But  next  there  was  a  desolation,  if  possible, 
deeper  still.  It  was  not  only  for  the  three  hours  that 
He  hung  upon  the  Cross,  but  for  three-and-thirty 
years  He  had  been  the  Man  of  Sorrows.  There  were 
two  thieves,  two  malefactors,  crucified  with  Him, 
one  on  the  right  and  one  on  the  left,  and  they  suf- 
fered the  same  bodily  agony ;  but  He  had  another 
anguish  of  which  they  knew  nothing — there  was  the 
unimaginable  loneliness  of  the  Son  of  God.  The 
sympathy  of  the  Son  of  God  is  so  large  that  He 
can  feel  with  and  for  every  son  of  man.  There  is 
not  among  the  sons  of  men  any  so  outcast,  with 
whom  the  Son  of  God  cannot  sympathize  in  all  the 
largeness  of  His  Sacred  Heart,  and  all  the  tenderness 
of  His  manhood.  He  knows  all  our  sorrows,  He 
knows  all  our  sadness,  He  knows  all  the  wounds  of 
our  hearts,  He  knows  even  the  miseries  we  have 
brought  upon  ourselves  by  sin ;  and  though  sinless 
Himself,  He  is  touched  by  the  feeling  of  our  infirm- 


210  THE    DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS. 

ities,  and  has  compassion  on  ns.  But  for  Him  there 
was  no  commensurate  sympathy.  He  was  in  this 
creation  of  His  own  making,  and  in  the  midst  of  His 
own  creatures,  without  the  sympathy  of  one  who  could 
adequately  sympathize  with  Him.  At  the  most  we 
are  but  creatures,  even  His  Immaculate  and  Blessed 
Mother,  she  was  but  a  creature ;  and  the  sympathy  of 
that  immaculate  heart,  though  the  largest  of  all,  was 
not  adequate  to  the  great  sorrow  of  the  Son  of  God. 
All  His  friends,  all  His  disciples,  all  His  brethren,  all 
that  were  round  about  Him,  were  incapable  of  meet- 
ing the  demands  for  sympathy,  such  as  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus  needed.  This  was  the  filling  up  of 
the  divine  loneliness  of  the  Sacred  Heart  through  all 
His  earthly  life — the  completion  of  those  three-and- 
thirty  years  of  absolute  and  divine  solitude.  We 
think  He  was  alone,  when  He  was  in  the  desert 
in  His  temptation.  He  was  indeed  alone,  but  not 
more  alone  than  when  He  was  in  the  crowded  streets 
of  Jerusalem.  The  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  was  too 
large,  too  divine,  to  find  any  companion,  any  fellow ; 
and  upon  the  Cross  those  mental  sorrows  were  at 
their  full.  All  the  streams  had  run  into  the  deep 
sea  of  that  last  sorrow,  of  which  He  said  :  "  My  soul 
is  sorrowful  even  unto  death."  * 

"  My  soul ! "    The  whole  abyss  of  that  human  and 
deified  soul  of  the  Son  of  God,  with  a  capacity  of 


THE   DERELICTION    ON-  THE    CROSS.  211 

sorrow  beyond  our  imagination,  was  filled  with  sorrow 
— and  even  "  nnto  death."  What  were  those  sorrows  % 
First  of  all,  for  three-and-thirty  years  He  had  been 
in  a  world  of  sin,  and  in  contact  with  sin.  The  Sin- 
less One  had  breathed  an  atmosphere  which  is  laden 
with  our  sins.  He  had  looked  upon  conntenances,  of 
which  every  one  bore  the  marks,  and  most  of  them 
the  distortion,  of  sin.  His  ears  had  been  filled  with 
voices  which  had  the  sharpness  of  sin.  Sin  had 
come  and  breathed  upon  Him.  Sin  conversed  with 
Him.  Sin  came  and  looked  in  His  face.  Sin  came 
to  Him,  not  knowing  Who  it  was;  and  the  Holy 
One  was  surrounded — crowded  upon  by  sinners.  For 
three-and-thirty  years  He  endured  this  agony;  and 
the  Agony  in  the  Garden,  when  He  sweat  drops  of 
blood,  was  but  the  last  expression  of  that  mental 
anguish  which  He  had  endured  throughout  all  the 
long  years  of  His  earthly  life. 

He  had  not  only  lived  in  the  midst  of  this  atmo- 
sphere of  evil,  but  He  had  been  tempted.  The 
tempter  had  drawn  near  to  Him — the  tempter,  with 
insolence,  had  come  to  suggest  evil  to  that  divine 
and  sinless  Heart — to  suggest  to  Him  mistrust  of 
His  Heavenly  Father,  to  suggest  to  Him  presump- 
tion, to  put  before  Him  visions  of  ambition,  of  self- 
love,  of  vainglory.  The  anguish  of  that  temptation 
can  be  known  only  to  those  that  are  sinless. 

Besides  this,  for  three-and-thirty  years  He  had 


212  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS. 

looked  upon  the  vision  of  death — He,  the  Creator  of 
all  things,  who  knew  the  perfection  of  His  own  work, 
who  knew  to  what  pattern  He  had  formed  it,  for  what 
use  and  for  what  end — He  saw  it  ruined  and  a  wreck 
— trampled  down,  disfigured,  dying  daily.  Lazarus 
in  the  tomb  was  a  holy  and  beautiful  example  of  that 
law  of  dissolution,  compared  with  the  universal  death 
which  He  saw  devouring  His  creatures — the  whole 
creation  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  together. 

Once  more.  He  could  not  trust  even  His  own 
friends.  There  was  one  whom  He  had  called  to  be 
a  disciple,  chosen  to  be  an  apostle,  one  whom  He 
had  taught  with  His  divine  words,  whom  He  had 
impressed  with  the  miracles  of  His  power,  whom  He 
had  commissioned  to  go  out  and  preach  His  kingdom, 
whom  He  had  fed  at  last  with  His  Body  and  Blood, 
whose  feet  He  washed  in  that  last  night  of  His 
sorrow ;  and  even  he,  His  own  familiar  friend — he 
sold  Him ;  and  having  sold  Him,  he  betrayed  Him ; 
and  betraying  Him,  he  betrayed  Him  with  a  kiss. 

There  was  another  sorrow- — He  was  hated  of  men. 
Have  you  ever  been  hated  by  anybody?  Do  you 
know  what  it  is  to  have  the  malice  of  some  one  who 
hates  you  pursuing  you  everywhere  ? — or  have  you 
ever  known  what  it  is  to  be  hated  by  some  one  who 
never  takes  the  pains  or  trouble  to  pursue  you? 
Are  you  conscious  that  to  be  the  object  of  hatred  to 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS.  213 

any  one,  justly  or  unjustly,  is  an  exceeding  bitter- 
ness, and  a  pain  whenever  we  remember  it  ?  Now  He 
was  conscious  at  all  times  that  He  was  an  object  of 
universal  and  preternatural  hatred  by  the  multitudes 
of  Jerusalem.  He  knew  that  He  had  been  con- 
demned unjustly,  accused  falsely ;  that  lying  witness 
had  been  borne  against  Him  ;  but  that  men  believed 
Him  to  be  guilty  of  the  blasphemies  of  which  He 
was  accused.  God  knew  his  innocence,  and  a  hand- 
ful of  His  disciples,  and  the  poor  it  may  be,  for 
"  they  heard  Him  gladly ; "  *  but  the  rulers,  and  the 
rich,  and  the  Pharisees,  and  the  scribes,  and  the 
lawyers,  and  the  chief  priests,  and  those  who  were 
the  leaders  of  the  people,  and  the  multitudes  who 
were  deceived  by  them,  believed  Him  to  be  guilty. 
They  hated  Him  for  His  guilt.  And  they  hated  him 
for  His  holiness  too ;  He  was  the  object  of  hatred, 
not  only  because  they  had  accused  and  condemned 
Him,  but  because  His  presence  rebuked  them ;  and 
to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  full  of  pity  and  com- 
passion and  tenderness  and  of  pardon,  giving  its  own 
life-blood  for  the  salvation  of  His  enemies,  praying 
for  them  on  the  Cross,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do ! "  f  the  consciousness 
of  that  hatred  was  an  intensity  of  anguish. 

But,  perhaps,  He  had  friends  still  that  were  faith- 
*  St.  Mark  xii.  37.  f  St.  Luke  xxiii.  34 


214  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS. 

fill.  There  were,  indeed,  loving  hearts — there  was 
His  Immaculate  Mother,  always  near  the  Cross; 
there  was  the  Beloved  Disciple,  who  never  forsook 
Him;  there  was  poor  Mary  Magdalen,  who  stood 
with  the  spotless  and  sinless.  Where  were  the  rest  ? 
Where  was  Peter  ?  He  was  somewhere  with  his 
head  covered  in  his  mantle,  weeping  bitterly.  And 
where  were  the  rest  ?  Scattered  afar  off — not  a 
friend  near  Him :  even  His  own  dearest  friends 
had  forsaken  Him. 

And  then,  lastly,  there  was  the  greatest  sorrow  of 
the  Son  of  God — the  consciousness  that  in  that  hour 
the  great  sin  of  the  world  had  been  accomplished : 
that  man  had  laid  hands  upon  God,  that,  after 
thousands  of  years  of  sin  and  of  rebellion,  he  had 
overtaken  Him  at  last.  The  divine  presence  being  out 
of  the  reach  of  man,  God  had  become  incarnate.  At 
last  God  was  made  man — God  came  into  the  midst 
of  men — God  was  within  the  reach  of  the  arms  of 
men ;  and  they  laid  hands  upon  Him,  they  scourged 
Him,  they  blasphemed  Him,  and  they  put  Him  to 
death.  The  world  murdered  its  own  Maker,  and  sin- 
ners slew  their  own  Redeemer.  The  world  shed  the 
Blood  of  God ;  it  stained  itself,  and  imprecated  upon 
itself  the  Blood  of  the  Divine  Innocent.  He  foresaw 
in  that  hour  the  multitude  of  souls  that,  notwith- 
standing the  shedding  of  His  Precious  Blood,  would 


THE   DEEEHCTION   ON   THE   CROSS.  215 

never  be  saved — the  redeemed  souls,  who  shall  go 
down  alive  into  hell — souls  in  multitudes  who  should 
never  hear  His  name,  and  would  yet  sin  against  Him 
— Souls  in  multitudes,  still  worse,  who  having  heard 
His  name  would  still  sin  against  Him — souls  on 
whom  He  had  poured  out  the  grace  of  His  Holy 
Spirit,  and  who  nevertheless  would  do  despite  to 
Him,  and  perish  impenitent,  and  go  down,  like  the 
leaves  in  autumn,  countless  in  their  multitude,  into 
eternal  death.  All  these  sorrows,  these  mental  sor- 
sows,  which  in  prophecy  were  before  Him  all  His 
life-time,  rose  at  last  to  their  fullness,  and  inun- 
dated the  Sacred  Heart  in  the  hour  of  His  Passion. 
But  there  is  still  one  more  part  of  this  suffering.  He 
might  well  say  on  the  Cross,  "  My  friends,  My  friends, 
why  have  you  forsaken  Me  % "  but  His  true  desolation 
was  this,  that  He  had  to  cry,  "  My  God,  My  God, 
why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  *  That  men  forsake 
Me  is  no  wonder — I  know  what  is  in  man ;  but  that 
Thou  shouldst  forsake  Me  ?     Why  is  it  % 

Now,  brethren,  we  come  to  what  I  said  in  the 
beginning  is  a  divine  depth  of  mystery  —  round 
about  which,  indeed,  we  may  walk  in  adoration  ;  into 
which  we  shall  never  be  able  to  descend — still  there 
is  somewhat  of  this  mystery  that  we  can  understand. 
First  of  all,  let  us  understand  what  that  sorrow  was 

*  Psalm  xxi.  2. 


216  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CEOSS. 

not.  It  was  not  a  separation  of  the  Son  from  the 
Fatuer.  The  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  are  one  God — con  substantial,  the  Uncreated, 
the  Infinite,  the  Ever-Blessed ;  therefore  it  was  noth- 
ing whatsoever  of  separation  of  the  Son  from  the 
Father,  or  of  the  Father  from  the  Son.  Again  :  the 
Godhead  and  the  Humanity  in  the  One  Person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  from  the  moment  of  the  Incarnation, 
by  hypostatic  union — that  is,  by  union  in  one  per- 
sonality— are  indissolubly  united  to  all  eternity ;  and 
therefore  those  words  did  not  import  or  imply  a 
shadow  of  separation  between  the  Godhead  and  the 
Manhood  of  Jesus  Christ.  What,  then,  do  they 
signify  ?  Just  as,  in  the  Agony  in  the  Garden,  the 
light  and  the  sweetness  and  the  consolation  of  His 
Godhead  were  voluntarily  withdrawn  from  the  suf- 
fering of  His  Manhood,  because  He  had  chosen  for  our 
sakes  to  let  in  the  full  tide  and  flood  of  sorrow  to  fill 
His  Sacred  Heart,  so  upon  the  Cross.  We  know  what 
follows  after  our  sins — what  darkness  and  desolation 
come  upon  us ;  but  this  comes  from  our  corruption, 
from  our  rebellion,  from  the  sin  that  is  in  us.  The 
Son  of  God,  the  Holy  One,  had  our  humanity ;  but  in 
that  humanity  there  was  no  disorder,  no  corruption, 
no  spot  of  sin,  for  He  had  deified  our  humanity ;  and 
therefore  all  that  He  suffered  was  by  a  voluntary  act 
of  His  own — willingly  withdrawing  for  a  time  the 


THE   DERELICTION   ON   THE   CROSS.  217 

sweetness  and  the  light  and  the  consolation  of  His 
Heavenly  Father.  From  the  first  moment  of  the 
Incarnation,  as  you  know,  the  human  soul  of  Jesus 
was  in  the  Beatific  Yision.  It  saw  God,  it  loved 
God  with  His  whole  Heart,  and  it  worshipped  God 
with  His  whole  soul;  and  while  He  was  on  earth*, 
a  wayfarer,  He  was  already  in  the  possession  and 
fruition  of  the  Beatific  Yision.  But  in  the  Agony  in 
the  Garden,  and  in  the  three  hours  upon  the  Cross, 
He  voluntarily  withdrew,  as  it  were,  the  light  and 
the  sweetness  which  He  always  had  by  right  as  God, 
and  by  merit  as  Man.  He  allowed  a  veil,  a  cloud — 
as  the  darkness  covered  the  sun  at  that  hour — to 
spread  over  His  soul.  He  allowed  a  darkness  to  be 
drawn  between  the  sweetness  and  the  light  of  His 
Godhead  and  His  human  soul ;  and  why  was  this  ? 
It  was  for  our  sakes.  It  was  voluntary  as  His  Incar- 
nation, as  His  Temptation,  as  His  Agony,  as  His 
Death ;  He  was  offered  up,  because  He  willed  it ;  He 
was  troubled  in  the  Garden,  because  He  willed  it ; 
He  was  desolate  upon  the  Cross,  because  He  willed 
it.  It  was  His  own  voluntary  act,  and  that  for  our 
sakes.  It  was  not  only  voluntary  ;  it  was  also* 
vicarious — it  was  suffered  in  our  stead.  And  why  ? 
Because  the  penalty  of  our  sin  is  separation  from 
God ;  because  separation  from  God  is  eternal  death. 
Because  the  loss  of  God  is  hell ;  because  the  penalty 
10 


218  THE   DEEELICTIOX   OX   THE    CEOSS. 

of  sin  is  the  loss  of  God.  Because,  even  after  death , 
those  who  are  saved,  unless  they  be  perfectly  expiated, 
will  be  detained  from  the  Yision  of  God ;  because  in 
this  life  every  sin  we  commit  is  followed  by  a  shadow ; 
and  that  shadow  is  darkness,  and  that  darkness  is  a 
part  of  desolation.  And  because  we  are  under  this 
law,  holy,  just,  and  good,  by  which  every  sin  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  penalty  of  desolation,  He  who,  to  ex- 
piate all  our  sins  and  pains,  voluntarily  and  vicari- 
ously suffered  all  that  His  sinless  and  Divine  Soul 
could  suffer,  permitted  Himself,  in  that  moment  of 
His  agony,  to  be  deprived  of  the  sweetness  and  con- 
solation and  light  even  of  His  own  Godhead.  The 
inferior  part  of  His  Humanity,  which  suffered  like  as 
ours,  was  in  the  dust  of  death,  in  the  sorrows  of  this 
world,  and  in  the  desolation  of  the  hiding  of  His 
Father's  face. 

And  now,  why  was  this  ?  First,  as  I  have  said, 
to  make  expiation.  It  was  to  expiate  our  sin  and  our 
pains,  to  save  us  from  that  and  from  worse.  He 
endured  it  for  our  sakes ;  and  He  endured  it  that  He 
might  reveal  His  love.  He  had  revealed  His  love  by 
every  manifestation,  by  works  of  mercy,  by  healing 
lepers,  by  giving  sight  to  the  blind,  by  raising  the 
dead,  by  absolving  the  penitent.  He  had  spoken  words 
of  grace  such  as  never  came  out  of  the  lips  of  man — 
words  which  were  more  than  the  words  of  man  ;  and 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS.  219 

if  men  had  had  hearts  to  understand,  they  would 
have  known  them  to  be  words  of  a  Divine  Person  ; 
but  these  things  were  not  enough  :  they  did  not  even 
yet  persuade  us  of  the  great  mystery  of  His  love. 
He  had  need  of  another  language,  of  other  words,  of 
something  more  articulate,  something  more  convinc- 
ing, something  more  persuasive :  and  what  could  that 
be  ?  Sorrow  unto  death,  penalty  even  to  the  extreme 
verge  of  what  is  possible  for  the  Son  of  God  to  suffer ; 
and  therefore  He  chose,  voluntarily  and  vicariously, 
to  endure  all  things  that  His  Divine  Soul  could 
endure  for  our  sakes,  to  convince  us,  if  possible,  of 
His  love — if  possible,  to  make  us  believe  how  much 
He  loves  us — if  possible,  to  prevail  over  the  hardness 
of  our  hearts,  that  we  at  last  may  be  convinced  and 
persuaded  of  the  exceeding  love  of  our  Divine  Re- 
deemer, and  all  this  to  make  us  trust  His  love,  that 
by  love  He  may  win  our  love  again.  He  knew  that 
it  is  not  by  command  that  we  can  be  made  to  love 
Him,  it  is  not  by  reasoning  that  the  love  of  God  is 
awakened  in  the  heart,  it  is  not  by  any  means  what- 
soever save  only  by  the  manifestation  of  love.  As  we 
know  among  ourselves,  it  is  love  that  awakens  love, 
it  is  friendship, that  kindles  friendship,  it  is  the  sen- 
sible manifestation  of  kindness  and  of  tenderness  of 
heart,  of  disinterested  and  self-denvin£  love — it  is 
this  that  awakens  us  to  love  again  ;  so  is  it  towards 


220  THE  DERELICTION   ON  THE   CROSS. 

Him.  And  He  therefore  endured  all  things  first,  to 
persuade  us  to  trust  in  His  love.  The  great  sin  of 
the  world  is  that  it  does  not  trust  in  the  love  of  God. 
It  is  your  great  sin.  It  is  the  cause  of  all  your  sins. 
You  never  could  sin  against  God  if  you  had  the 
feeling  of  His  love  to  you ;  you  never  could  venture, 
you  could  not  endure  to  do  it.  If  you  felt  the  love 
of  God  to  you  personally,  as  you  feel  the  warmth  of 
the  noonday  sun,  it  would  be  impossible  with  the 
knowledge  of  your  heart  to  sin  against  Him.  It 
would  be  morally  impossible.  It  would  be  the  vio- 
lation of  your  new  nature.  He  said :  "  Greater  love 
hath  no  man  than  this  :  if  a  man  give  his  life  for  his 
friends."  *  He  has  given  His  life  for  you.  What  can 
He  say  to  you,  what  could  He  do  for  you,  if  this  will 
not  persuade  you  ?  Is  it  in  the  power  of  the  Word 
of  God  to  convince  vou  of  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  if 
His  agony  on  the  Cross  is  not  enough  ?  Therefore, 
He  is  all  day  long  saying  these  words  to  you :  "  O  My 
friends,  it  was  for  you  I  was  crucified.  O  My  beloved, 
it  is  you  I  have  loved  even  unto  death.  O  my  chil- 
dren, for  you  I  shed  My  Precious  Blood.  What  more 
could  I  have  done  for  you  than  that  which  I  have 
done?  What  more  could  I  have  given  than  that 
which  I  have  given  ?  What  more  could  I  suffer  for 
you  than  that  which  I  have  already  suffered  ?  But  you 
*  St.  John  xv.  13. 


THE   DERELICTION    ON   THE   CROSS.  221 

will  not  come  unto  Me  that  yon  may  have  life — yon 
will  not  believe  My  love.  How  often  wonld  I  have 
gathered  yon  nnder  the  shadow  of  My  Cross  !  How 
often  wonld  I  have  covered  you  with  the  hem  of  My 
garment !  For  I  have  sought  after  you,  to  try  and 
bring  yon  within  My  own  Sacred  Heart ;  but  ye  would 
not."  He  has  been  burning  with  love  to  us,  and  we 
have  stood  at  a  distance,  cold  and  unmoved.  He  says 
to  us  from  the  Cross :  "  What  more  could  I  do  ? 
what  more  could  I  give  ?  what  more  could  I  suffer  ? 
If  there  were  anything  I  could  suffer,  I  would  suffer 
it  still.  If  it  were  necessary  to  die  again  for  yon  to 
save  you,  I  would  die  again.  If  it  were  possible  to 
suffer  more,  it  should  be  suffered."  And  what  is  your 
answer  ?  I  do  not  mean  in  words,  I  mean  in  deeds. 
He  says  to  us  :  "I  have  loved  you  not  in  word,  but 
in  deed.  I  have  loved  you  not  in  professions,  but 
in  Passion  and  Death.  I  have  loved  you  not  in 
such  protestations  as  Peter  made  to  me,  but  by  a 
reality  which  no  man  can  deny,  no  man  can  fail  to 
understand.  I  suffered  death  upon  the  Cross  for 
you.  I  was  forsaken  even  of  My  Father  ;  and  that 
for  your  sakes." 

Here,  then,  dear  brethren,  we  have  the  meaning 
in  some  little  measure,  the  mere  outline  of  this  de- 
reliction of  our  Divine  Lord.  It  consisted  in  the 
unrevealed  agonies  of  the  body,  in  the  unconsoled 


222  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CROSS. 

sorrows  of  His  Sacred  Heart ;  and  lastly,  in  that 
mysterious  taste  of  darkness  and  desolation,  in  the 
withdrawal  of  the  light  and  the  sweetness  of  the 
countenance  of  God,  even  in  the  hour  of  His 
death. 

Now,  why  was  this  ?  When  we  are  in  sorrow 
and  in  trouble  of  mind  ;  when  pains  of  body,  sharp 
sicknesses,  unkindness,  ingratitude,  the  forsaking  of 
friends,  the  bitterness  of  life ;  when  dryness  of  heart, 
darkness  of  soul — when  these  things  come  upon  us, 
we  have  no  need  to  say,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  me  ? "  We  know  why,  or  we  might 
know,  and  we  ought  to  know  in  one  moment.  It  is 
no  mystery  why  we  should  be  forsaken.  Look  back 
on  your  mortal  sins  in  childhood  and  boyhood,  and 
youth  and  manhood,  and  the  mortal  sins  that  you 
remember,  and  the  mortal  sins  you  have  forgotten, 
and  the  mortal  sins  that  you  have  not  repented  as 
you  ought  even  to  this  day.  We  have  no  reason  to 
ask,  "  Why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ? "  Look  back 
upon  the  cloud  of  venial  sins,  which  through  long 
years  you  have  been  committing — sins  of  self-love, 
sins  of  vanity,  sins  of  sloth,  sins  of  ingratitude,  sins 
of  neglect  of  God,  sins  of  hardness  of  heart  with  the 
crucifix  before  your  eyes,  sins  of  coldness  even  in  the 
presence  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  —  look  at  that 
cloud  of  venial  sins  which  comes  down  and  lowers 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS.  223 

over  you,  perhaps  every  day  of  your  lives.  We  have 
no  need  to  ask,  "  Why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ? " 
Once  more.  The  sins  of  omission  that  you  commit, 
the  duties  that  you  so  readily  leave  undone,  the  acts 
of  love  and  fidelity  to  our  Divine  Master  which  with 
such  lukewarmness  you  offer  to  Him,  the  great  want 
of  generosity  in  all  your  life,  the  want  of  love  re- 
sponding to  His  love,  and  tenderness  to  His  tender- 
ness— surely  these  things  explain  why  our  hearts 
should  be  cold  and  dark,  and  our  prayers  dry,  and 
why  we  should  be  buffeted  with  temptation,  and  why 
we  should  find  no  solace.  We  have  no  difficulty  in 
understanding  this.  Nay,  more — look  at  our  insta- 
bilities. What  a  life  is  ours  !  We  serve  God  by  fits 
and  by  starts ;  we  have  cold  fits  and  hot  fits,  like 
men  in  an  ague,  like  those  that  are  struck  by  fever ; 
sometimes  we  are  in  earnest,  sometimes  we  give 
up ;  we  are  carried  away  by  gusts  of  temptation ; 
a  frown  of  the  world  will  kill  off  all  our  good  reso- 
lutions. Such  is  our  life,  perpetually  tossed  to  and 
fro,  like  waves  of  the  sea.  Where  is  our  stability  ? 
And  if  we  are  unstable,  why  is  it  ?  Because  we  do 
not  love.  A  friend  that  loves  a  friend  does  not  vary 
in  his  friendship.  The  variations  of  friendship  show 
how  shallow  and  how  reckless  our  love  is. 

And  lastly,  I  say  reckless ;  and  by  reckless  I  mean 
this — that  we  live  all  the  day  long  as  if  Christ  had 


224  THE   DERELICTION   ON   THE   CEOSS. 

never  died  for  us.  Dear  brethren,  ask  yourselves 
what  one  thing  is  there  that  you  left  undone  yester- 
day for  the  recollection  of  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ 
— for  I  hope  you  were  then  remembering  the  day  of 
His  Agony  in  the  Garden.  You  remember  that  we 
were  yesterday  on  the  eve  of  the  day  of  His  cruci- 
fixion. We  are  in  Holy  Week  and  the  midst  of  the 
thoughts  of  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Is  it  the 
chief  thought  in  your  hearts  ?  What  did  all  this 
do  for  you  yesterday,  or  what  one  thing  did  you  do 
or  leave  undone  for  the  love  of  our  Lord  in  His 
Passion  ?  And  if  this  be  so,  we  have  no  reason  to 
wonder  that  we  have  sorrows,  pains,  chastisements, 
rods,  visitations,  desolations.  We  lose  the  light  of 
our  Father's  countenance.  The  sweetness  and  the 
consolation  which  we  had  once,  it  may  be,  are  gone. 
We  have  them  no  longer  ;  but  the  fault  is  our  own. 
Well,  now  let  us  learn  for  what  end  and  purpose 
this  is.  If  Jesus  Christ  did  not  love  us,  He  would 
leave  us  to  sin  and  to  prosper,  He  would  leave  us  to 
go  on  as  we  are,  and  to  enjoy  the  world.  These  are 
the  words  of  God :  "  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He 
chasten  eth ;  and  scourge th  every  son  whom  He 
receiveth."*  If  you  be  without  chastisement,  whereof 
all  are  partakers,  then  are  you  no  true  sons  of  God. 
The  sign  and  the  token  of  the  love  of  our  Divine 
*  Prob.  iii.  12 ;  Heb.  xii.  6. 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS.  225 

Lord  is  when  He  takes  the  thorns  of  His  Crown 
and  puts  them  into  our  liead,  and  the  nails  of  His 
Crucifixion  and  runs  them  into  our  hands  and  feet 
—  the  feet  which  we  have  used  to  do  evil  and  to 
walk  in  ways  contrary  to  His  will,  them  he  crucifies ; 
and  the  hands  that  have  been  busy  in  vanity  and 
folly  and  worldliness,  and  worse,  on  them  in  His 
love  He  will  imprint  the  marks  of  His  own  Crucifix- 
ion ;  and  upon  the  heart  that  has  been  unfaithful  to 
Him,  that  has  been  wandering,  selfish,  careless,  self- 
indulgent,  He  impresses  the  tokens  of  His  Passion. 
By  crosses,  sicknesses,  visitations,  bereavements, 
afflictions,  chastisements,  and  rods — by  those  sacred 
spiritual  visitations  of  desolation  and  of  dryness — 
by  these  He  wakens  us  up  to  know  Him ;  to  see 
that  we  are  offending  against  Him,  and  that  the  penal 
consequences  of  our  sins  and  faults  have  found  us 
out.  He  permits  them  to  come  upon  us,  and  permits 
them  in  pity  for  our  sanctification.  He  knows  that 
without  them  we  cannot  be  saved ;  He  knows  that 
without  them  we  should  sin  and  prosper,  that  we 
should  go  on  in  our  worldly  way,  and  should  never 
see  God;  and  therefore  He  uses  these  things  with 
a  manifold  wisdom,  with  an  exceeding  tenderness. 
He  uses  them  first  to  check  us,  and,  if  need  be, 
to  strike  us  down.  A  sinner  in  the  guilt  of  his 
sin,  is  struck  down  sometimes  like  Saul  on  the 
10* 


226  THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE   CROSS. 

way  to  Damascus.  A  light  from  heaven  which  no 
eye  but  his  can  see,  and-  he  alone  can  recognize, 
strikes  him  down  with  the  consciousness  of  himself, 
so  that  when  he  rises  up  he  is  blind  to  the  world, 
and  his  eyes  are  opened  upon  his  own  state,  his  own 
peril,  and  his  own  guilt.  It  is  in  times  of  affliction, 
sorrow,  sickness,  anxiety,  and  pain  of  heart  and  mind 
— and  in  these  last  above  all — that  this  loving  stroke 
of  our  Divine  Saviour's  hand  is  felt.  He  sends  or 
permits  these  desolations  and  sorrows  to  chastise 
Us,  to  make  us  recollect  what  it  is  we  have  done.  I 
dare  say  you  all  know  what  it  is  to  feel  sad  and  cast 
down,  and  to  say :  "  I  do  not  know  why  it  is — I  know 
there  is  some  cause  ;  and  I  know  I  felt  it,  and  knew 
it  at  the  moment ;  but  I  cannot  remember  now  what 
it  is  that  has  brought  me  this  sadness."  After  a  little 
pause  of  thought,  we  trace  out  the  real  reason — we 
remember  what  it  was ;  we  have  found  how  justly  He 
has  dealt  with  us ;  and  this  chastisement  gives  us  a 
self-knowledge,  without  which  there  is  little  contri- 
tion. Moreover,  it  is  by  these  trials  that  He  puts 
to  test  the  love  that  we  profess  to  Him.  It  is  a 
poor  love  which  is  warm  only  in  the  sunshine.  It 
is  a  mean  love  of  God  which  does  not  bum  even 
under  a  cross.  If  we  only  serve  God  because  it 
is  sweet — if  we  only  turn  from  sin  because  we  are 
afraid  of  hell — if  our  motives  for  doing  right,  are  that 


THE   DERELICTION    ON    THE    CEOSS.  227 

we  have  a  servile  fear  of  doing  wrong,  we  are  merce- 
naries and  hirelings,  we  are  unworthy  of  the  pure 
and  generous  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  He,  the  sinless 
Son  of  G-od,  endured  all  things  for  us — not  for  His 
own  sake,  but  solely  and  purely  for  ours ;  and  we 
serve  Him  only  for  our  own.     It  is  by  these  penal 

• 

consequences  of  our  sins  that  He  tests  our  love  and 
purifies  it,  that  He  cleanses  it  of  self-love,  self- 
indulgence,  and  of  all  that  dwelling  upon  self,  of 
wounded  self,  of  that  pity  for  ourselves,  springing 
from  the  self-love  of  our  heart  which  towards  God 
is — I  Avill  not  say  dead,  but  that  it  has  little  pulse 
and  little  warmth  within  it. 

Lastly,  whatever  sorrows  you  have  of  the  body, 
of  the  mind,  or  of  the  soul,  these  are  intended 
to  produce  in  you  one  thing  above  all — that  is, 
compunction.  Compunction  means  sorrow  for  sin, 
springing  from  the  love  of  the  Five  Sacred  Wounds 
which  Jesus  suffered  in  our  behalf.  Attrition,  as 
you  know,  means  the  sorrow  of  the  heart  that  is 
bruised ;  contrition,  the  sorrow  of  the  heart  that  is 
broken ;  compunction,  the  sorrow  of  the  heart  that 
is  pierced  with  Jesus  Christ.  Until  we  have  come 
to  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  and  have  contemplated  the 
Five  Wounds  of  our  Divine  Saviour,  and  the  love 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  through  His  side  opened  by  the 
lance,  and  until  we  have  entered  into  His  love,  and 


228  THE   DERELICTION   ON   THE   CROSS. 

sorrowed  because  of  that  love,  and  because  of  our  own 
want  of  love,  and  because  of  our  own  ingratitude,  our 
sorrow  is  not  worthy  of  the  name  of  compunction. 
He  is  perfecting  in  you  this  generous  sorrow.  If 
you  are  suffering  pains  of  body,  unite  them  with 
the  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  His  Cross.  If 
you  have  mental  pains,  sorrows  of  mind,  trials  of 
your  family,  ingratitude  of  friends,  disobedience  of 
children,  the  loss  of  those  dear  to  you,  whatsoever  it 
be,  unite  them  with  the  mental  sorrows  of  Jesus 
dying  upon  the  Cross.  If  you  are  suffering  spiritual 
dryness  and  darkness,  and  desolation  and  distance 
from  God,  as  you  think,  unite  them  with  His  Dere- 
liction. Do  not  say,  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  Say,  "  My  God,  my  God,  I 
know  well  how  I  deserve  this  desolation.  I  know 
well  how  all  my  life  has  merited  that  I  should  be 
forsaken;  but  my  hope  is  in  Thy  love,  which  has 
never  forsaken  those  that  trust  in  Thee." 

Therefore,  dear  brethren,  sum  up  all  I  have  said, 
and  sum  it  up  in  these  two  ways :  first  of  all,  choose 
of  your  own  will,  gladly  and  willingly,  a  lot  of  sor- 
row and  of  the  Cross  in  this  world,  rather  than  a  lot 
that  is  bright  and  fair.  If  they  were  both  before 
you,  held  out  in  the  hands  of  our  Divine  Saviour, 
the  one  the  lot  of  His  Cross,  the  other  the  happiness 
of  this  world,  remember  what  was  set  before  Him  in 


THE   DERELICTION,  ON    THE   CROSS.  229 

the  mountain :  "  All  these  things  will  I  give  Thee,  if 
Thou  falling  down  wilt  adore  me."  *  Put  the  world 
aside — we  cannot  serve  two  masters — it  is  better  to 
choose  the  lot  that  He  chose  for  Himself ;  to  be 
made  like  to  Him  even  in  His  Cross.  It  is  more 
safe  for  us,  because  it  is  more  generous  towards 
Him.  Next,  if  we  have  not  the  heart  and  courage 
to  choose  this  for  His  sake,  let  us  bless  Him,  if, 
contrary  to  our  will,  He  choose  it  for  us.  If  He 
sends  us  this  very  lot  from  which  we  shrink,  then 
let  us  bless  the  wise  and  loving  Physician,  who, 
seeing  that  we  are  cowardly — that  we  have  neither 
nerve  nor  firmness  to  take  the  knife  to  lay  the  wound 
open,  and  that  the  wound  if  it  fester  will  bring  death, 
let  us  bless  Him  that  He  in  His  love  and  tenderness 
has  chosen  the  lot  of  the  Cross  for  us,  has  given  it 
to  us,  and  that  we  have  no  choice  to  make  but  to 
accept  it,  to  press  it  to  our  heart,  to  love  it  for  His 
sake,  and  to  pray  to  Him  to  give  us  grace  to  bear  it. 
We  have  offended  against  Him  by  every  mem- 
ber of  the  body,  by  every  faculty  of  the  mind,  by 
every  passion  of  the  heart,  by  every  affection  of  the 
soul ;  and  upon  the  Cross  in  His  bodily  pain,  and 
in  His  mental  sorrow,  and  in  His  spiritual  deso- 
lation, He  made  a  perfect  and  complete  expiation 
for  all  our  sins.     They  are  all  expiated ;  and  in  His 

*  St.  Matt,  h .  9. 


230  THE   DEKELICTJON   ON    THE    CROSS. 

Precious  Blood  they  will  all  be  washed  away  on  one 
condition — that  we  are  made  like  to  Him ;  and  if  we 
can  be  made  like  to  Him  only  by  being  crucified, 
then  let  us  be  crucified.  A  will  at  variance  with 
His  will  is  sin  and  eternal  death ;  a  will  crucified 
with  His  will  is  holiness  and  eternal  life.  Let  us 
pray  Him,  then,  to  do  His  own  work  in  us ;  let  us 
say  to  Him,  "  Lord,  Thon  wast  crucified  for  me,  cru- 
cify me  with  Thyself.  I  cannot  save  myself ;  Thou 
only  canst  save  me — save  me,  lest  I  perish  eternally." 
Pray  Him  to  crucify  the  living  will  which  is  within 
you,  for  "  they  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified  the 
flesh,  with  the  affections  and  concupiscences."  This 
is  the  token  of  a  Christian.  Pray  Him  to  do  it  until 
you  can  say  these  three  words :  "God  forbid  I  should 
glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
whereby  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me  and  I  unto 
the  world."  *  And  again :  "  With  Christ  I  am  nailed 
to  the  Cross,  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  that  I  now  live  in 
the  flesh,  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved 
me  and  delivered  Himself  to  death  for  me."  f  Let 
us  say  to  Him  every  day  :  u  Lord,  whether  I  live  let 
me  live  unto  Thee,  and  whether  I  die,  let  me  die  unto 
Thee,  that  living  and  dying  I  may  be  Thine."  £ 
*  Gal.  iv.  14.  f  Gal.  ii.  19,  20.  %  Rom.  xiv.  8. 


VIII. 
THE  JOYS  OF  THE  RESURRECTION. 


THE  JOYS  OF  THE  EESURRECTION. 


Jesus  said  unto  her :  Mary.     She  saith  unto  him  :  Rabboni ;  that 
is  to  say,  Master.    St.  John  xx.  16. 

It  was  very  early  in  the  morning,  while  it  was  yet 
dark,  that  Mary  Magdalen  and  the  other  women 
came  to  the  garden ;  and  they  found  the  stone  rolled 
away  from  the  month  of  the  sepulchre.  Mary  Mag- 
dalen ran  and  told  Peter  and  the  Disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved,  saying  :  "  They  have  taken  away  the  Lord 
out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know  not  where  they 
have  laid  Him."  Peter  and  John  ran  to  the  garden ; 
John  outran  Peter,  and  came  first  to  the  sepulchre, 
and  stooping  down  looked  in ;  but  Peter  following, 
came,  and  went  into  the  sepulchre,  and  saw  the  linen 
clothes  lying.  Then  they  returned  to  their  home ; 
but  Mary  Magdalen  lingered.  She  had  no  home  but 
the  sepulchre  of  Jesus.  It  was  empty ;  but  she  would 
not  go  away.  She  stood  without  weeping :  and  as  she 
wept  she  stooped  down  and  looked  into  the  sepulchre, 

and  saw  two  angels  in  white,  the  one  sitting  at  the 

(233) 


234  THE   JOYS    OF    THE    RESUEKECTION. 

head,  and  the  other  at  the  feet,  where  the  Body  of 
Jesus  had  lain.  Jesus  stood  behind  her,  and  said  to 
her:  Woman,  why  weepest  thou?  Whom  seekest 
thou  ?  And  she,  turning  and  seeing  Him,  but  be- 
lieving that  He  was  the  gardener,  saith  :  "  They  have 
taken  my  Lord  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know 
not  where  thev  have  laid  Him.  Sir,  if  thou  hast 
taken  Him  away,  tell  me  where  I  may  find  Him, 
that  I  may  take  Him  away."  And  Jesus  saith  unto 
her :  "  Mary !"  She  saith  unto  Him :  "  Rabboni !"  that 
is  to  say,  Master.  She  had  lingered  out  of  love  and 
compunction ;  she  knew  that  she  had  pierced  her 
Lord  by  her  sins  and  for  her  sins ;  and  she  stood 
weeping  at  the  sepulchre ;  and  her  lingering  was 
rewarded.  She  was  rewarded  with  the  vision  of  an- 
gels— she  was  rewarded  with  the  vision  of  Jesus 
Himself. 

Now,  dear  brethren,  we  have  here  revealed  to  us 
the  law  and  the  order  of  the  joy  and  consolation  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  They  that  suffer  and  sorrow 
most  shall  be  the  most  consoled  and  fullest  of  joy  in 
His  Kingdom.  He  who  suffered  most  and  sorrowed 
most  was  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  Who  for  our  sakes 
was  crucified.  He  said  before  His  agony :  "  My  Soul 
is  sorrowful  even  unto  death."  *  The  deified  Soul  of 
Jesus — a  Soul  like  ours,  because  He  was  a  man ;  a 
*  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  38. 


THE   JOYS    OF    THE    RESTJRRECTIOX.  235 

Sonl  unlike  ours,  because  it  was  deified  by  union 
with  the  Godhead — had  a  capacity  for  sorrow  that  no 
other  human  heart  could  ever  know.  As  the  sor- 
rows of  the  Son  of  God  Incarnate  were  the  greatest 
that  son  of  man  ever  tasted,  so,  in  a  measure  accord- 
ing to  the  capacity  of  His  Heart  for  sorrow,  was  the 
capacity  of  His  Sacred  Heart  for  joy.  In  the  hour  of 
His  Resurrection,  He  was  filled  with  the  joy  of  His 
Kingdom,  and  rejoiced  over  His  accomplished  work, 
over  the  redemption  of  the  world,  over  the  sevenfold 
shedding  of  His  Precious  Blood,  over  the  remission 
of  our  sins,  over  the  vision  of  grace  and  the  multi- 
tude of  His  elect  who  should  be  saved  eternally. 
Jesus  in  that  hour  rejoiced  with  a  heart  filled  with 
a  divine  joy,  which  we  may  adore,  but  cannot  com- 
prehend. 

Next  after  His  was  the  joy  of  His  Immaculate 
Mother,  the  Mother  of  Seven  Sorrows  ;  and  as  each 
sorrow  was  sevenfold,  so  was  her  joy  likewise  a  seven- 
fold joy.  Though,  dear  brethren,  we  do  not  read  it 
in  the  text  of  the  Holy  Gospels — for  many  things 
are  not  written  which  Jesus  did,  the  which  if  they 
should  all  be  written,  the  world  itself  would  not 
contain  the  books — the  Church  has  believed  always, 
by  the  light  and  intuition  of  faith,  that  the  first  to 
whom  He  manifested  Himself  in  the  glory  of  His 
Resurrection  was  His   blessed   and    sinless  Mother, 


236  THE   JOTS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

who,  next  to  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  suffered  more 
deeply  and  more  sharply  than  any  human  heart. 
And  next  after  the  Mother  of  God,  to  whom  did 
He  show  Himself  in  His  joy?  Was  it  to  Peter, 
whom  He  had  made  the  Rock  of  His  imperishable 
Church  ?  Was  it  to  John,  who  had  lain  upon  His 
bosom  at  supper  ?  It  was  to  Mary  Magdalen,  out 
of  whom  He  had  cast  seven  devils,  from  whose  soul 
He  had  washed  away  in  the  Precious  Blood  sins 
sevenfold,  red  as  scarlet,  beyond  all  number — to  her, 
because  she  had  loved  much,  and  because  out  of 
her  great  love  she  sorrowed  much;  and  because 
next  after  the  Mother  of  God  herself — her  sorrows 
were  the  greatest — He  first  showed  Himself  in  the 
glory  of  His  Resurrection.  He  came  and  stood  be- 
hind her,  while  she  was  weeping  at  the  sepulchre ; 
and,  while  she  did  not  recognize  Him,  He  called  her 
by  her  name.  He  called  her  by  the  name  so  fami- 
liar ;  He  said  unto  her,  "  Mary  !"  and  the  accent  of 
His  well-known  voice  revealed  to  her  Who  it  was. 
She  answered  Him  as  she  was  wont  to  answer,  "  Rab- 
boni !"  that  is  to  say,  Master.  And  after  her,  next 
He  manifested  Himself  to  Peter — the  unstable,  faith- 
less friend,  who  had  three  times  denied  Him ;  and 
after  Peter  to  His  Disciples,  faithful,  fearful  souls, 
true  to  Him  still,  though  their  hearts  could  not 
endure  the  perils  of  His  crucifixion. 


THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION.  237 

Here,  then,  we  have  laid  open  to  ns  a  great  law  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  namely,  that  the  joy  of  the 
Resurrection  is  measured  out  according  to  the  sor- 
row of  our  penitence,  according  to  the  sorrow  that 
we  have  endured  here  in  the  body,  in  the  mind,  and 
in  the  soul.  As  we  have  tasted  of  His  Cross  and 
of  His  desolation,  so  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion we  shall  taste  of  His  glory  and  of  His  joy ;  and 
these  forty  days  on  which  we  have  just  entered  are, 
as  it  were,  the  type  and  the  shadow,  and  the  fore- 
taste and  the  beginning  of  this  eternal  joy.  Those 
forty  days,  when  Jesus  was  always  near  them,  but  not 
always  seen — always,  as  it  were,  ready  to  manifest 
Himself,  and  yet  still  hiding  Himself — those  days 
in  which  they  first  knew  the  fullness  of  His  Godhead, 
were  indeed  days  of  surpassing  joy,  as  of  heaven 
upon  earth  ;  and  yet  not  heavenly  alone,  but  earthly 
too,  that  is,  He  came  down  to  them  in  their  sor- 
rows and  their  humiliations.  He  did  not  ascend  at 
once  to  the  throne  of  His  glory ;  but  as  by  the  incar- 
nation He  had  humbled  Himself  to  be  made  man 
and  to  enter  within  the  sphere  of  our  sympathies, 
so  in  those  forty  days,  when  He  had  revealed  His 
Godhead,  He  came  to  tarry  in  the  midst  of  them, 
to  speak  with  them,  to  eat  and  drink  with  them,  to 
suffer  them  to  touch  Him.  If  He  forbade  Mary  Mag- 
dalen in  the  first  moment  of  her  joy,  yet  He  suffered 


238  THE   JOYS    OF    THE   RESURRECTION. 

Thomas  to  handle  the  wounds  of  His  hands  and  side ; 
and  therefore  those  forty  days  bring  before  us  both 
the  joys  of  faith,  and  the  joys  of  vision.  By  the  Res- 
urrection of  our  Lord  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
of  the  joy  in  heaven  were  broken  up,  and  the  whole 
Church,  according  to  the  prophecy,  was  inundated 
by  the  river  which  makes  glad  the  City  of  G  od. 

The  Church  of  God  is  inundated  to  this  day  by 
this  torrent  of  sweetness.  Notwithstanding  the  war- 
fare of  the  Church  upon  earth,  notwithstanding  the 
bitter  and  relentless  persecutions  of  the  world,  not- 
withstanding the  Cross,  which  we  must  all  bear,  one 
by  one,  if  we  are  true  disciples  of  our  Master ;  never- 
theless, there  is  a  joy  which  He  has  given  and  no 
man  can  take  from  us — a  joy  so  inward,  so  deep,  so 
expanding,  so  multiplying  as  life  goes  on,  that  it  is 
a  foretaste  of  our  eternal  joy. 

1.  First,  there  are  the  joys  of  faith.  In  what  do 
they  consist  ?  In  the  same  in  which  the  joy  of  the 
Disciples  consisted  in  the  forty  days,  that  is,  in  the 
presence  of  Jesus.  He  ascended  to  His  Father ;  but 
He  is  with  us  still.  To  go  to  His  Father  is  not  to  be 
absent  from  us ;  it  is,  indeed,  to  be  out  of  sight,  but 
He  is  always  near ;  and  therefore  the  Apostle  said 
to  the  Christians  at  Philippi,  "  Rejoice  in  the  Lord 
always  ;  and  again  I  say  rejoice.  Let  your  modesty," 
your  moderation, "  be  known  unto  all  men ;"  *  that  is, 


THE  JOYS   OF   THE   RESURRECTION.  239 

your  self-control,  jour  self-command,  jour  Christian 
dignitj  ;  f or  "  the  Lord  is  nigh,"  jou  are  alwajs  in 
His  presence.  He  is  indeed  "  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father,"  according  to  the  natural  mode  of  His 
existence;  but  He  showed  Himself  to  Stephen  in 
the  moment  of  His  martyrdom  ;  He  showed  Himself 
to  Saul  on  the  waj  to  Damascus,  He  stood  bj  him 
in  his  answer  before  the  imperial  tribunal  in  Home ; 
He  has  manifested  Himself  to  saints  again  and  again ; 
He  is  with  us  alwajs ;  and  He  will  come  again.  We 
know  that  He  will  be  seen  once  more  upon  earth ; 
and  between  His  first  appearance  and  His  last,  though 
withdrawn  from  our  ordinary  sight,  He  is  still  near 
to  us.  We  know  that  we  are  in  His  presence,  and 
the  joy  of  His  presence  is  our  joy  ;  but  there  is  an- 
other Presence,  perpetual,  universal,  intimate,  veiled 
indeed,  but  real  and  personal,  always  upon  the  altar. 
Wheresoever  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  is,  there  is 
Jesus,  reigning  in  the  mystery  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment, always  near  to  us ;  and  our  union  with  Him 
is  a  union  so  intimate  that  the  mind  cannot  define 
it ;  the  heart  alone,  illuminated  by  faith,  can  know 
by  consciousness  that  which  the  intellect  cannot  com- 
prehend. 

But  not  only  is  His  presence  the  source  of  our 
joy,  but  also  our  loosing  from  sin  and  death,  which 

*  Phil.  iv.  4. 


240  THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

is  now  at  this  moment  true  and  real,  and  if  we  be 
faithful  shall  be  eternal.  We  know  that  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Holy  Baptism  was  instituted  by  our  Divine 
Saviour  to  raise  the  soul  by  a  spiritual  resurrec- 
tion from  the  death  of  original  sin.  It  is  a  matter 
of  revelation,  and  therefore  a  matter  of  faith  and  of 
the  divine  certainty  of  faith,  that  those  who  are  bap- 
tized are  born  again,  made  children  of  God,  receive 
the  gift  of  supernatural  life,  are  loosed  from  the  bond 
of  original  sin,  and  therefore  from  the  doom  of  eter- 
nal death.  Dear  brethren,  this  has  passed  upon  you  all. 
You  were  every  one  of  you  baptized  in  the  uncon- 
sciousness of  infancy.  While  as  yet  your  will  had 
never  varied  or  opposed  itself  to  the  will  of  our  Re- 
deemer, you  received  the  grace  of  your  regenera- 
tion— you  were  loosed  from  sin  and  death.  If  you 
have  fallen  under  its  dominion  again — if  you  have 
willfully  become  sinful,  you  have  indeed  been  again 
condemned  to  die ;  but  if  you  have  preserved  the 
grace  of  your  baptism,  you  are  now  loosed  from  sin 
and  death,  the  power  of  the  Resurrection  is  upon  you. 
If  since  your  baptism  you  have  fallen  again  into 
mortal  sin  and  so  have  died  once  more,  there  is  an- 
other sacrament  instituted  in  the  Precious  Blood,  the 
Sacrament  of  Penance  ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  divine 
revelation  and  of  divine  faith,  that  all  who  with  true 
contrition  receive  the  absolution  of  that  Sacrament 


THE   JOYS    OF  THE   RESURRECTION.  241 

are  once  more  loosed  from  all  their  actual  sins,  and 
therefore  from  eternal  death. 

Here,  then,  is  the  first  source  of  our  joy.  Why, 
then,  is  it  we  do  not  rejoice  ?  Because  our  hearts  are 
cold,  and  our  faith  is  dim.  These  great  realities  are 
like  the  presence  of  God  round  about  us,  in  the. 
midst  of  which  we  walk  to  and  fro  every  day  uncon- 
sciously. And  once  more  :  if  we  have  faith,  and  if  we 
lay  to  heart  the  truths  that  I  have  tried  to  speak,  then 
we  have  the  consciousness  in  us  of  a  risen  life.  As 
there  is  a  soul  which  quickens  the  body,  so  there  is 
a  supernatural  life  which  quickens  the  soul ;  and  we 
know  that  as  we  have  the  power  of  the  body,  so,  that 
we  have  the  power  of  the  soul ;  and  as  thought,  and 
intelligence,  and  motion  descend  from  the  head  of 
the  body  into  all  our  members,  so  the  life  that  we 
now  live,  we  live  in  virtue  of  our  union  with  our 
Divine  Head  in  heaven.  This  is  what  the  Apostle 
declares  when  he  says  :  "  There  is  therefore  now  no 
condemnation  to  those  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
walk  not  according  to  the  flesh,  but  according  to 
the  spirit.  The  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and. 
death."  *  The  spirit  of  the  Resurrection,  and  the 
risen  life  of  our  Divine  Head,  are  in  every  one  of  us, 
if  we  are  not  under  the  power  of  mortal  sin ;  and  we 

Rom.  viii.  1. 
11 


242  THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

have  this  countersign,  that  if  we  are  become  new 
creatures,  the  "  old  things  are  passed  away,  all  things 
have  become  new : "  that  is  to  say,  our  old  character, 
our  old  mind,  our  old  habits,  our  old  loves,  our  old 
hates,  our  old  thoughts,  our  old  sins,  are  stripped 
from  us  like  a  leprous  garment.  There  they  are,  our 
grave-clothes  cast  away;  there  they  are,  before  us 
still,  a  vision  of  sin  and  death,  reminding  us  of 
what  we  were  once ;  but  they  are  ourselves  no  longer. 
The  spirit  of  life  in  us  has  sloughed  them  off,  like 
the  corrupt  flesh  of  the  leper.  The  winding-sheet, 
and  the  bands  of  mortality,  in  which  we  were  when 
we  were  bound  in  sin,  have  been  loosened  and  taken 
off ;  the  old  character  is  gone.  If  we  are  disciples 
of  Jesus  Christ,  a  new  mind,  new  loves,  new  hatreds, 
new  fears,  new  hopes,  new  aspirations,  new  affections, 
new  desires,  have  sprung  up  in  us.  "  If  any  man  be 
in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a  new  creature  "  *  and  in  a  new 
creation.  A  change  has  passed  upon  him  so  great 
that  he  may  feel  day  after  day  the  words  of  our 
Divine  Lord  fulfilled  in  him :  "  In  that  day  ye  shall 
know  that  I  am  in  My  Father,  and  you  in  Me,  and  I 
in  you."  f 

2.  In  this  we  see  an  outline  of  the  joys  of  faith : 
but  -we  cannot  longer  dwell  on  them,  for  there  are 
greater  things  than  these.     If  these  be  the  joys  of 
*  2  Cor.  v.  17.  f  St.  John  xiv.  20. 


THE  JOYS   OF   THE   KESTTKKECTION.  243 

faith,  what  are  the  joys  of  vision  ?  What  the  ripe- 
ness of  summer  is  after  the  bitter  piercing  cold  and 
death  of  winter,  such  is  the  vision  of  God  when  the 
vision  of  faith  shall  melt  into  the  glory  of  His  King- 
dom. The  same  truths,  the  same  realities,  the  same 
persons,  the  same  relations,  which  are  here,  will  be 
there,  and  will  be  eternal.  Like  as  when  the  snow 
melts  away  before  the  returning  sun,  the  forms  of 
nature,  the  very  same  as  they  were  before  they  were 
buried,  reappear ;  so  shall  it  be  in  the  vision  of  glory. 
This  is  the  office  and  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Say 
the  last  words  of  your  baptismal  creed :  "  I  believe 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church." 
The  Church  is  His  creation:  One,  because  He  is 
One ;  holy,  because  He  is  holy ;  infallible,  because 
He  is  the  Light  of  truth :  "  And  in  the  communion 
of  saints  "—which  is  the  ripe  fruit  gathered  from  the 
Church  on  earth  into  the  garners  of  the  Kingdom : 
"  And  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins  " — in  Baptism,  in 
Penance,  in  contrition :  "  And  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,"  which  shall  be  raised  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
from  the  dust,  and  knit  together  once  more  in  its 
perfect  glory :  "  And  in  life  everlasting,"  which  is  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  souls  of  the 
blessed. 

This,  then,  is  the  joy  of  vision.     And  what  will 
be  the  first  object  of  our  sight  ?     Our  Divine  Lord 


244  THE   JOYS   OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

has  said  :  "  I  am  the  Door,  by  which  if  any  man  shall 
enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved ;  and  he  shall  go  in  and 
go  ont,  and  shall  find  pasture "  * — that  is,  the  pas- 
tures of  eternal  life.  The  presence  of  the  Sacred 
Humanity  of  Jesus,  the  vision  of  our  Divine  Master 
in  the  glory  of  His  Kingdom,  is  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  and  the  prophecy,  "  his  eyes  shall  behold  the 
King  in  His  beauty,  in  the  land  that  is  far  off."  f 
And  what  is  the  beauty  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  The 
beauty  of  God  Himself.  He  is  the  Brightness  of  His 
Father's  Glory,  the  Image  of  His  Substance ;  and  God 
Himself  is  beauty.  That  Divine  beauty  was  clothed 
in  the  human  beauty.  The  first  Adam  was  beauti- 
ful, for  he  was  made  unto  the  likeness  and  image  of 
God,  Who  is  beauty  itself ;  and  he  was  made  to  the 
likeness  and  image  of  the  Second  Adam,  that  is, 
the  Word  Incarnate.  And  the  very  Person  of  Jesus 
Christ  is,  as  the  Word  of  God  says,  "the  fairest 
among  the  children  of  men."  J  But  this  outward 
beauty,  what  is  it  compared  with  the  inward  beauty 
— with  the  love,  and  the  pity,  and  the  compassion, 
and  the  mercy,  and  the  purity,  and  the  sanctity  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  ?  We  shall  see  the  countenance  of 
the  Friend  who  has  loved  us,  sorrowed  for  us,  died 
for  us ;  the  countenance  of  the  Son  of  God  fixed  upon 
each  one  of  us ;  the  eyes  of  our  Redeemer  looking 
*  St.  John  x.  9.        f  Isa-  xxxiii.  17-        X  Psalm  xliv.  3. 


THE   JOYS    OF   THF   RESURRECTION.  24:5 

upon  us  personally  one  by  one ;  His  voice  speaking 
to  us  as  He  spoke  to  Mary  at  the  sepulchre,  calling 
us  each  one  by  name,  knowing  each  one  of  us  in  all 
the  intimate  consciousness  of  our  personality :  this  is 
the  beginning  of  the  joy. 

And  next  the  consciousness  that,  through  the 
whole  realm  of  His  Kingdom  there  is  but  one  Will, 
holy,  supreme,  and  sovereign ;  and  that  His  will  per- 
vades our  whole  being,  so  that  there  is  not  a  beat  in 
the  pulse,  nor  a  motion  of  our  whole  spiritual  nature, 
that  is  not  in  perfect  harmony  with  His ;  and  that 
the  same  Will  pervades  all  that  are  about  Him  in  all 
the  heavenly  court ;  all  the  holy  Angels,  all  the 
companies  of  the  Blessed ;  thereby  creating  one  joy 
in  all,  and  a  mutual  joy,  so  that  the  joy  of  all  is  the 
joy  of  each.  We  all  shall  have  a  perfect  conscious- 
ness of  our  past  in  this  world,  a  perfect  personal 
identity,  the  same  there  as  we  were  here,  sin  only 
excepted,  a  perfect  recognition  of  each  other,  a  perfect 
interchange  of  intuition  and  of  mutual  intelligence,  of 
all  that  is  in  the  soul,  of  each  other's  bliss  and  joy. 
The  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  God — because  their 
capacity  is  greater — shall  have  a  greater  joy  in  the 
glory  of  the  least,  and  the  least,  because  their  charity 
is  perfect,  will  rejoice  with  a  greater  joy  in  the  glory 
of  those  that  are  higher  in  bliss  than  they. 

Add  to  this,  that  which  would  make  even  this 


246  THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

earth  blissful.  If  for  one  moment  the  conflicts,  the 
hatreds,  the  contentions,  the  jealousies,  the  warfares, 
the  jangling,  the  discords  of  this  world  could  be  sus- 
pended— if  for  one  day  from  sunrise  to  sunset  sin 
could  cease,  even  this  world  would  be  blissful.  In 
that  world  there  shall  be  rest  eternal ;  rest,  that  is,  no 
temptation,  warfare,  or  cross  ;  rest  within,  heart, 
mind,  soul,  thought,  affection,  will — all  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  perfect  will  of  Jesus.  And — that 
which  you  perhaps  will  little  realize  when  I  say  it — 
rest  from  toil,  rest  from  labor,  rest  from  eating  bread 
in  the  sweat  of  your  face — that  which  the  multitudes 
and  the  millions  of  Christendom,  in  all  lands  and 
all  languages,  have  for  their  earthly  lot — the  poor 
laborer,  the  tiller  of  the  ground — those  who  wring 
hard  sustenance  out  of  the  hard  earth,  who  live  lives 
of  cold,  and  pain,  and  disease,  and  privation,  in  homes 
that  are  bare,  with  hungry  children,  with  those 
that  are  dearest  to  them  languishing,  and  fading 
for  want  of  the  food  which  their  toil  cannot  supply — 
this  is  an  earthly  burden  of  which  you  who  hear 
me  perhaps  know  little.  But  in  heaven  "  they  shall 
hunger  no  more,  they  shall  thirst  no  more,  neither 
shall  the  sun  light  upon  them  nor  any  heat ;  but  the 
Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Throne  shall  rule 
over  them,  and  shall  lead  them  by  the  fountains  of 
the  waters  of  life,  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears 


THE   JOYS   OF   THE   RESURRECTION.  247 

from  their  eyes."  *  And  once  more  :  there  shall  be  the 
joy  of  conscious  eternal  health.  You  have  known 
perhaps  in  yourselves  what  pain  and  sickness  is ;  what 
it  is  to  languish  long  upon  a  bed  of  suffering ;  you 
remember  the  first  day  when  you  rose  up  again,  and 
went  out  into  the  free  air  and  into  the  light  of  the 
sun ;  when  you  felt  that  health  had  come  back,  and 
strength  had  returned  to  you,  and  that  vigor  was 
once  more  in  your  limbs :  what,  then,  shall  be  the 
eternal  health  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grod,  when  there 
shall  be  no  more  death,  no  more  disease,  no  more 
wasting  of  the  poor  body,  no  more  crippled  limbs,  no 
more  blind  eyes,  no  more  ears  without  hearing,  no 
more  distorted  members,  no  more  distracted  minds, 
no  more  unsound  brain,  or  wandering  intelligence, 
or  blankness  of  idiocy.  These  things  shall  be 
gone  forever ;  for  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
they  shall  be  healed  eternally ;  and  the  soul  made 
perfect,  after  the  image  of  Jesus,  shall  be  clothed  in 
a  glorified  body  like  His  own.  As  there  is  no  more 
death,  there  will  be  no  more  change.  If  in  this  world 
we  had  all  the  desires  of  our  hearts,  they  could  not 
last  forever;  and  if  they  could  last  forever,  they 
could  not  satisfy  our  hearts ;  but  in  the  Kingdom  of 
God  there  shall  be  no  more  change  to  all  eternity. 
There  shall  be  no  yesterday,  and  there  shall  be  no 

*  Apoc.  vii.  16. 


248  THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION. 

to-morrow,  and  there  shall  be  no  sunset ;  it  shall  be 
one  eternal  day — now,  ever-present — the  noon  of 
overpassing  bliss.  The  happiness  of  life,  the  happi- 
ness of  home,  the  happiness  of  your  past — where  is 
it  ?  You  have  to  look  back  for  it ;  it  is  gone,  ,or  it 
is  going,  transient  and  fleeting,  and  in  a  little  while 
it  will  be  no  longer ;  but  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
that  life  ever  new  of  body,  of  mind,  of  soul,  of  home, 
of  happiness,  of  perfect  identity,  of  mutual  recog- 
nition, of  restored  bonds  of  love  perfected  and  trans- 
figured in  the  kingdom  of  the  Resurrection,  shall  all 
be  changeless  and  eternal.  5 

There  yet  remains  another  joy ;  but  it  is  one  of 
which  I  can  hardly  speak,  because  I  can  hardly  under- 
stand. We  shall  see  God.  We  shall  see  Him  as  He 
is ;  our  eyes  shall  behold  the  Eternal.  We  shall  see 
His  uncreated  nature ;  we  shall  see  that  which  our 
hearts  cannot  conceive;  we  shall  see  Him,  not  by 
the  eyes  of  flesh  and  blood,  nor  by  the  bare  intellect 
of  nature  ;  but  by  the  Light  of  Glory.  The  Light  of 
Glory  is  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  illumination  of  the 
intellect  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  soul 
filled  with  Charity  will  be  elevated  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  the  vision  of  God,  and  to  the  union  of  all  its 
powers  and  all  its  affections  with  the  uncreated  Truth 
and  the  uncreated  Love  —  that  is,  God  Himself. 
We  shall  see  Him  not  in  His  infinity — for  the  finite 


THE   JOYS    OF   THE    RESURRECTION.  249 

mind  cannot — but  we  shall  see  Him  fully.  Just  as 
when  we  see  a  spark  of  fire  we  see  all  fire,  though  the 
fire  has  no  limit  that  we  can  understand ;  and  as  when 
we  see  a  ray  of  light  we  see  the  whole  nature  of  light, 
though  that  light  be  boundless ;  so  we  shall  see  God. 
When  we  shall  see  His  sanctity,  purity,  wisdom,  good- 
ness, power,  justice,  mercy,  pity,  compassion,  and  all 
the  perfections  of  God,  we  shall  see  God  as  He  is, 
though  not  His  infinity.  And  we  shall  see  God  the 
Father  in  His  uncreated  essence ;  we  shall  see  God  the 
Son  begotten  of  the  Father ;  we  shall  see  God  the  Holy 
Ghost  proceeding  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  we 
shall  see  the  essence  of  the  glory  and  of  the  eternal 
mutual  knowledge,  and  of  the  eternal  mutual  love  of 
the  Three  Co-equal  Persons  in  One  Godhead.  These 
things  surpass  both  our  words  and  our  thoughts; 
but  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Resurrection  they  shall 
be  manifested  to  all  who  enter  by  that  Door,  which 
is  Jesus  Christ,  by  whose  light  all  shall  be  revealed. 
Here,  then,  are  the  joys  of  the  Resurrection. 

And  now,  what  are  the  notes,  what  are  the  marks 
of  those  who  are  the  heirs  of  that  joy?  You,  as 
I  have  said,  by  your  Baptism  have  been  made  par- 
takers of  the  Resurrection  ;  by  your  Absolution  you 
have  been  loosed  from  sin  and  death ;  you  are  heirs 
therefore  of  the  joys  of  faith  and  of  the  joys  of  vision  ; 
but  as  the  Church  itself  has  its  notes,  so  those  that 
11* 


250  THE   JOYS    OF    THE   RESURRECTION. 

are  the  true  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  have  their 
visible  notes ;  which  are  certain  fruits  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  and  what  are  they  ? 

1.  The  first  note,  without  which  they  are  disciples 
only  in   name,  is  this,  the   love  of  God  and  their 
neighbor.        St.  John  says,  speaking  by  the    Holy 
Ghost,  "  We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren.     He  that 
loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in  death."*   The  mark 
of  a  soul,  that  has  the  life  of  the  Resurrection  in  it, 
is  the  love  of  God  above  all  things ;  the  love  of  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves.     The  love  of  God  above  all 
things  is  the  love  of  appreciation,  so  that  we  shall 
be  willing  to  give  up  the  whole  world  rather  than 
lose  God.     The  love  of  our  neighbor  is  the  warmth 
of  charity  sensibly  felt  by  all  around  us.     "  Charity 
begins  at  home,"  means  this  :  that  there  is  no  charity 
in  the  man  who  does  not  first  pervade  his  own  home 
with  the  love  of  God  and  his  neighbor ;  and  next, 
that  love  reaches  our  friends,  each  of  them  in  their 
own  order ;.  and  after  our  friends  our  enemies,  and 
all  who  stand  in  need  of  us.     And  they  who  stand  in 
need  of  us  are  the  mourners,  the  outcast,  the  sick, 
the  tempted,  the  lost,  the  little  children  who  have  no 
helpers,  and  lastly,  our  enemies,  and  those  who  bear 
us  ill-will  without  a  cause.     If  you  desire  to  have 
*  1  St.  John  iii.  14. 


THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION.  251 

a  test  whereby  to  know  whether  you  have  the  life 
of  the  Resurrection  in  you,  see  how  you  bear  your- 
selves to  those  whom  you  believe  to  bear  ill-will 
to  you.  They  are  among  your  best  friends.  The 
friends  that  love  you  and  speak  fair  and  soft  things 
to  you  are  not  friends,  compared  to  those  who  look 
upon  you  with  sharp  eyes,  and  speak  with  cold 
voices,  and  bear  unkind  hearts.  They  try  what  you 
are ;  they  try  your  patience,  the  spirit  of  your  hu- 
mility, whether  you  have  a  crucified  will,  which  is 
the  sure  mark  of  the  true  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ. 
If  you  have  enemies,  look  to  see  all  that  is  good  in 
them.  There  is  good  in  them  all.  Just  as  when 
we  look  into  thick  tangled  forests,  there  are  rays  of 
the  sun's  light  which  come  down  on  the  leaves  and 
on  the  earth,  here  and  there,  broken  and  scattered, 
little,  it  may  be,  but  still  the  sun  is  there  ;  so  in  the 
worst  of  men,  unless  they  be  reprobate,  there  are 
still  some  traces  of  God.  Look  and  find  them  :  if 
you  have  charity,  you  will  have  eyes  to  see  that  sun's 
light ;  and  though  you  cannot  be  blind  to  their  sin — - 
for  you  must  see  it,  if  you  have  light  and  discernment 
from  the  Holy  Ghost — nevertheless,  in  your  conduct 
towards  those  who  are  sinful,  and  in  your  treatment 
of  sinners,  you  will  be  as  if  you  were  blind,  you  will 
be  even  as  our  Lord  is  to  you,  "Who,  although  He  sees 
every  sin  in  you,  bears  with  you  with  an  immutable 


252  THE   JOYS    OF   THE    RESURRECTION. 

patience ;  never  sharpens  His  voice,  never  makes  a 
gesture  of  impatience,  but  seeing  that  the  flax  is 
not  yet  quenched  and  the  reed  not  yet  broken,  He 
bears  with  you  with  a  divine  pity.  So  bear  with 
your  enemies.  And  this  charity  of  our  hearts  will 
overflow  to  all  the  works  of  God.  Ail  the  creation  of 
God  is  a  mirror  in  which  God's  glory,  pity,  sweet- 
ness, and  goodness  are  reflected ;  and  all  the  crea- 
tures are,  as  it  were,  a  ladder  of  ascent  whereby  to 
go  up  into  the  heart  of  God.  It  is  through  His  crea- 
tures that  He  speaks  to  us.  We  shall  love  everything 
that  He  has  made :  the  trees  of  the  forest  and  the 
flowers  of  the  field,  and  the  dumb  creatures — they 
all  will  be  objects  of  love  and  kindness  because  they 
are  loved  of  their  Maker,  and  their  Maker's  hand  is 
seen  upon  them. 

2.  Charity,  then,  is  the  first  mark.  And  the  sec- 
ond is  liberty,  that  is,  while  we  love  the  creatures  of 
God,  to  be  brought  into  bondage  by  none  of  them. 
The  great  sin  of  the  world  is,  that  it  worships  and 
loves  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator.  The  great 
sin  of  us  all  is  creature-worship,  putting  creatures  in 
the  place  of  God ;  and  this  brings  us  into  bondage. 
"We  lose  our  liberty.  The  creatures  darken  our  un- 
derstanding, corrupt  our  hearts,  bias  our  will,  turn 
us  away  from  the  service  of  God  to  serve  the  world, 
with  its  ambitions  and  its   prides,  and   its   honors 


THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESURRECTION.  253 

and  its  fascinations,  its  covetousness,  its  craving,  and 
its  servility.  There  is  something  sad  and  contempt- 
ible in  the  dependence  of  men  upon  the  breath  of 
the  world,  the  praise  of  the  world,  the  blame  of 
the  world.  If  yon  are  men  that  are  "  risen  with 
Christ,"  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  mind  the  things  that 
are  above,  not  the  things  on  the  earth ;  you  are 
dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."*  Be 
not  brought  into  bondage  to  the  world.  But  there 
is  one  creature  in  the  world  which  is  the  most  subtle 
of  all — there  is  one  creature  which  is  the  most  fasci- 
nating, the  most  deceitful,  and  which  brings  men 
into  bondage  more  than  anything  else,  and  that  crea- 
ture is  Self — the  love  of  self.  The  love  of  self  is 
shown  in  the  violent  choosing  of  our  will  for  this  or 
for  that,  without  wisdom  and  without  reason  ;  setting 
our  hearts  upon  things  until  they  grow  so  attached 
that  they  grow  into  them ;  and  if  they  are  taken 
from  us,  we  think  we  are  wounded  to  death,  as  if 
we  had  lost  a  limb ;  then  comes  sorrow,  disgust, 
discontent,  sadness — which  is  a  possession  of  the 
devil,  for  the  "  sorrow  of  this  world  worketh  death ;  "f 
and  then  we  rise  in  rebellion  against  God.  The 
Man  of  Sorrows  sorrowed  not  for  Himself,  but  for 
us ;  the  true  and  perfect  sympathy  of  the  Man  of  Sor- 
rows was  for  others.  There  are  only  two  centres, 
•Oofcfflt  *  2  Cor.  vii.  10. 


254  THE   JOYS    OF   THE   RESUREECTION. 

God  and  ourselves  ;  and  we  must  rest  on  one  or  on 
the  other.  If  we  rest  our  full  weight  upon  our- 
selves, we  are  not  resting  so  much  as  the  weight  of 
a  feather  upon  God,  but  simply  living  in  ourselves 
and  for  ourselves  ;  and  we  shall  suffer — suffer  in  this 
world  continual  sorrow,  crosses,  and  disappointment ; 
and  if  we  so  die,  unless  keen  expiation  shall  prepare 
us  for  the  vision  of  peace,  we  may  forfeit  the  face 
of  God  to  all  eternity.  Once  more :  a  lot  is  meted 
out  to  every  one  of  us,  and  God  has  chosen  it.  We 
do  not  choose  our  own  lot ;  some  few  of  its  details 
we  may  control ;  but  we  no  more  choose  our  entire 
lot  than  we  determine  the  country  or  the  century  in 
which  we  are  born.  It  is  the  providence  of  God ; 
and  He  ordains  what  we  shall  have  and  shall  not 
have  ;  and  that  lot  is  given  to  us,  to  be  content  with 
it,  to  be  satisfied  with  it,  to  rejoice  in  it.  More 
than  this,  when  we  see  others  happier,  richer,  more 
gifted  than  we  are,  we  ought  not  only  to  be  content 
with  our  own  lot,  but  to  rejoice  for  their  sakes  if 
they  are  preferred  before  us  ;  if  they  are  more  loved 
than  we  are,  if  God  has  bestowed  on  them  greater 
graces,  if  He  has  put  them  first  and  put  us  last,  to 
rejoice  in  it  all.  These  are  the  marks  of  a  heart  that 
is  living  in  the  joy  of  the  Resurrection.  It  lives  out 
of  itself ;  and  living  out  of  itself,  by  this  unselfish 
joy,  it  has  a  joy  in  itself  which  comes  from  the  pres- 


THE   JOTS    OF   THE  RESURRECTION.  255 

ence  of  Jesus  Christ ;  the  overflow  of  His  peace, 
"  which  passeth  all  sense," *  the  consciousness  of  that 
twofold  relationship — His  relation  to  us,  our  relation 
to  Him,  and  our  mutual  and  indissoluble  love. 

3.  Lastly:  there  is  one  more  mark  of  which  I 
will  speak  ;  and  that  is,  a  spirit  of  praise,  a  spirit  of 
thanksgiving,  joy,  and  praise.  We  go  on  praying 
all  our  life-time,  craving,  clamoring,  with  sharp  and 
discontented  prayers,  because  we  have  not  what  we 
desire ;  and  when  we  receive  the  gifts  of  God,  we,  like 
the  lepers,  do  not  turn  back  to  give  Him  thanks ; 
the  spirit  of  praise  is  not  in  us.  And  yet  there  will 
be  no  prayer  in  heaven,  there  will  be  no  prayer  in 
eternity.  There  will  be  perpetual  praise  ;  praise  will 
be  the  work  of  the  Blessed,  praise  will  be  our  joy, 
praise  will  be  our  sweetness  forever.  If,  then,  in 
this  life  we  do  not  praise  God ;  if  praise  is  not  now 
on  our  lips  nor  in  our  hearts ;  if,  when  we  repeat  the 
words  of  the  Psalter,  our  hearts  are  earthly  and  dry, 
are  we  training  for  the  praise  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  ?  Should  we  know  how  to  sing  the  canticle  of 
Moses  and  of  the  Lamb,  who  have  never  learned  it 
here  ?  Remember  what  praise  is.  Praise  consists  in 
the  love  of  God,  in  wonder  at  the  goodness  of  God, 
in  recognition  of  the  gifts  of  God,  in  seeing  God  in  all 
things  He  gives  us,  ay,  and  even  in  the  things  that 

*  Phil,  iv.  7. 


256  THE   JOYS   OF    THE   RESURRECTION. 

He  refuses  to  us  ;  so  as  to  see  our  whole  life  in  the 
light  of  God ;  and  seeing  this,  to  bless  Him,  adore 
Him,  and  glorify  Him  :  to  say,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy," 
in  the  words  of  the  Seraphim  ;  to  say,  "  Glory  be  to 
God  in  the  highest ; "  in  the  words  of  the  Angels, 
to  say,  "  Glory  be  to  the  Father  and  to  the  Son, 
and  to  the  Holy  Ghost ; "  to  say  always  and  in  all 
things,  "  Thanks  be  to  God."  Learn  this  spirit  of 
praise  in  all  your  daily  life. 

And  now  I  have  but  one  more  word  to  add.  Dear 
brethren,  for  many  long  weeks  we  have  been  advanc- 
ing to  this  day.  We  have  come  up  from  the  desert, 
through  the  wilderness  of  sin.  We  have  dwelt  on  the 
horrors  of  mortal  sin  and  on  venial  sin,  on  sins  of 
omission,  on  temptation ;  we  have  gone  along  the 
way  of  the  Cross ;  and  but  the  other  day  we  rested  on 
Mount  Calvary,  gazing  upon  the  Five  Sacred  Wounds 
and  upon  the  desolation  of  the  Son  of  God.  To-day 
we  have  gone  up  from  the  sepulchre  to  the  Throne  of 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Resurrection  ;  and  round  about 
us  we  may  see  by  faith  those  whom  we  shall  here- 
after see  in  vision  :  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  sin- 
less always  ;  the  beloved  Disciple,  who  was  without 
spot ;  Mary  Magdalen,  stained  through  and  through, 
now  white  as  snow :  there  they  stand,  the  type  of 
saints  and  penitents,  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  re- 
deemed by  the  same  Lord  and  Saviour,  washed  in 


THE  JOYS   OF   THE   RESUEEECTION.  257 

the  same  Precious  Blood,  arrayed  in  light,  the  peni- 
tent white  as  the  sinless,  because  sinless  forever ; 
for  all  sins  are  done  away.  "  These  are  they  which 
have  come  out  of  great  tribulations,  and  have  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  Blood  of  the 
Lamb."  *  We  have  come,  then,  in  joy,  with  peni- 
tents, and  with  the  saints,  to  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Resurrection  :  but  we  shall  have  some  years  still  of 
temptation  and  buffeting  and  sorrow  and  warfare  and 
of  the  Cross,  on  earth.  These  things  must  be :  storms 
upon  the  lake,  clouds  upon  the  mountain  ;  they  are 
our  earthly  lot.  What  matter  ?  If  we  be  children 
of  the  Resurrection,  heaven  is  ours  :  and  heaven  is 
near  ;  we  know  not  how  long  :  or  how  soon  our  day 
may  be.  Before  Easter  next  we  may  be  in  the  light 
of  the  Kingdom ;  or  we  may  be  in  its  outskirts, 
expiating  and  waiting  for  the  vision  of  God.  What 
matter,  then,  a  little  pain,  a  little  sorrow,  a  little 
penance,  a  few  crosses,  if,  after  a  little  while  there 
be  an  inheritance  of  eternal  joy  % 

*  Apoc.  vii.  14. 


THE   END. 


INDEX. 


Absolution,  the  Spirit  of,  29  ; 

perfect    and    full,   105,   141  ; 

power  of,  182, 145,  150,  152  ; 

valid,  192. 
Absolver,  the,  29. 
Abuse  of  human  nature,  14. 
Act,  of  faith,  185  ;  of  love,  185. 
Actions,  guilt  of,  19  ;  twofold, 

180  ;  indeliberate,  181. 
Adam,  sin  of,  22,  47 ;  trial  of, 

23  ;  three  wounds  of,  25 ;  the 

Second,  243.     , 
Advertence  in  sin  43. 
Affections,  the,  181. 
Affliction,  discipline  of,  35,  226. 
Agony  of  our  Lord,   207,  211, 

216. 
Ambition,  sin  of,  74. 
Ananias,  sin  of,  52. 
Angels,  creation  of  the,  17,  47 ; 

around    our    Lord,   206 ;    in 

heaven,  244. 
Anger,  sin  of,  46,  73. 
Anguish  of  temptation,  211. 
Animosity    against    the    good, 

115. 
Apostasy,  sin  of,  40. 
Apostles,  the,  51. 
Attractions,  the  two,  84. 
Attrition,  227. 
Audacity,  infidel,  9. 
Augustine,  St.,  on  prayer,  109. 
Avarice,  sin  of,  46. 

Baptism,  grace  of,  82  ;  infants 
dying  before.  26  ;  regenera- 
tion in,  48,  240. 

Leauty  of  God,  244. 

Bernard,  St.,  on  fervor,  78. 


Blasphemy  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 

29,  41,  153. 
Blight  of  the  soul,  90. 
Blindness  to  sin,  30 ;  to  color, 

84. 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  34,  5?, 

206. 
Body  of  Christ,  the  mystical,  11. 
Book  of  Remembrance,  51,  58, 

89,   104;    that   ought  to  be 

burned,  94. 
Bread  of  Life.  132. 

Calvary,  203,  208. 

Centres,  the  two,  253. 

Charity,  of  God,  250  ;  destroyed 
by  sin,  55  ;  life  of  the  soul, 
115  ;  acts  of,  113. 

Chastisement,  self-knowledge 
from,  226. 

Christendom  and  the  world,  169. 

Church,  the  Catholic,  242. 

Color-blindness,  84. 

Commandments,  the  Ten,  34. 

Communion,  Holy,  83 ;  the 
world's  impatience  of,  116. 

Compassion,  the  Divine,  18. 

Compunction,  226. 

Confession,  82,  240.- 

Confidence  in  God,  219. 

Conformity  to  God,  39. 

Conscience,  convicted  of  sinful- 
ness, 10  ;  the  law  written  on, 
12  ;  darkness  of  the,  31,  149  ; 
twilight  of,  104. 

Consciousness  of  guilt,  11,  118. 

Contempt  of  God,  93. 

Contrition,  227. 

Controversy,  134. 
(259) 


260 


INDEX. 


Conversion,  time  of,  9  ;  true,  75. 
Correspondence  with  grace,  59. 
Council  of  Florence,  50. 
Creation,  end  of,  105. 
Creator,  sins  against  our,  28. 
Creature-worship,  252. 
Cross  of  Christ,  28. 

Darkness  of  the  conscience,  81, 

149. 
Darts  of  Satan,  181. 
David,  twofold  sin  of,  51. 
Day  of  Judgment,  12,  91,  155, 

195. 
Deadliness  of  sin,  30. 
Death,  spiritual,  temporal,  and 

eternal,  24  ;  sins  unto,  39  ;  of 

the  soul,  80. 
Debt  of  guilt  and  pain,  57. 
Deformity  of  the  soul,  13,  39,  91. 
Demas,  sin  of,  52. 
Depths,  the  three,  33. 
Dereliction  of  our  Lord,  206. 
Desert  of  sin,  256. 
Despondency,  118. 
Devil,  deceit  of  the,  123  ;  nega- 
tion of,  168  ;  darts  of,   181  ; 

ministers   of,  62,  167  ;  spirit 

of,  171 ;  malice  of,  174. 
Dictates  of  reason,  15. 
Discipline  of  affliction,  35,  226. 
Disease  of  the  soul,  81). 
Disobedience,  sinfulness  of,  16  ; 

one  act   of,   25,   47  ;  unfilial, 

88. 
Distraction,  state  of,  110. 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  114. 
Dreams,  180. 
Dress,  morals  of,  195. 
Drink,  indulgence  in,  56,  194. 
Duty  to  God,  30  ;  grace  to  fulfill, 

81  ;  exactness  in,  112. 

East,  Churches  of  the,  19. 
Elymas,  the  magician,  30. 
End  of  creation,  105  ;  of  man, 

39. 
Enemy  of  the  Cross  of  Christ, 

27. 


England,   the   Established 

Church  of,  20. 
Envy,  45. 

Ephesus,  the  Christians  at,  193. 
Equity  of  God,  18. 
Error,  material,  20. 
Eternity,  9. 

Exactness  in  duties,  112. 
Expiation  of  our  Lord,  218, 
Fzekiel,  words  of,  53. 

Facility  of  prayer,  79. 

Faith,  act  of,  113,  185 ;  joys  of, 

238  ;  remaining  after  sin,  55. 
Falsehood,  knowledge  of,  30. 
Fashion,  vanity  of,  90,  196. 
Fear,  servile,  227. 
Fervor,  St.  Bernard  on,  78  ;  loss 

of,  112. 
Fidelity,  test  of,  23, 185  ;  life  of, 

78. 
Florence,  Council  of,  50. 
Friendship,  with  God,  78,  185  ; 

dangerous,  96. 
Fruits  of  penance,  9. 
Furnace  of  temptation,  186. 

Generosity  of  God,  20,  24. 

Glory  of  the  Blessed,  50,  247, 
256. 

Gluttony,  sin  of,  45,  73. 

God,  in  Himself,  14,  88  ;  infinite, 
27  ;  Divine  wisdom,  25  ;  per- 
fections of,  12,  31,  34,  72  ;  un- 
changeable, 67 ;  as  Creator,  40, 
88,  106,  181,  211  ;  as  revealed 
in  the  Blessed  Trinity,  27,  97, 
216  ;  as  revealed  in  the  Incar- 
nation, 163,  206,  215,  244; 
as  the  End  of  man,  39,  64 ; 
His  love,  54  ;  His  generosity, 
attraction  of,  60,  84,  185  ;  the 
true  centre,  77  ;  dependence 
of  creatures  on,  47;  distrust 
of,  115  ;  declension  from,  116  ; 
our  duty  to,  30,  79,  81 ;  equity 
of,  19  ;  eye  of,  11,  42 ;  friend- 
ship of,  76, 156, 186  ;  holiness 
of,  63,  183  ;  loss  of,  65 ;  the 


INDEX. 


261 


life  of  the  soul,  46 ;  light  of 
the  presence  of,  11 ;  just  judg- 
ment of,  31,  42  ;  the  knowl- 
edge of,  30 ;  his  knowledge  of 
sin,  32 ;  the  law  of,  43 ;  the 
mercy  of,  21  ;  no  morality 
without,  17  ;  presence  of,  88  ; 
revelation  of,  62,  93  ;  all  true 
science  from,  92  ;  separation 
from,  54,  60,  65, 147  ;  sin  com- 
mitted in,  87  ;  as  Sovereign, 
22  ;  union  with,  48,  54,  64,  73, 
109 :  weariness  of,  46,  120  ; 
the  object  of  the  Beatific  Vi- 
sion in  heaven.  25,  249. 

Gospel,  apostle  of  the,  63. 

Grace,  correspondence  with,  60  ; 
diminished  by  venial  sin,  78  ; 
inundation  of,  81  ;  needed  by 
men  and  angels,  47  ;  sacra- 
men  till,  82  ;  out  of  the  sacra- 
ment, 84  ;  sanctifying,  49  ;  suf- 
ficiency of,  81. 

Gravity  of  Bin,  44. 

Guilt,  consciousness  of,  11  ;  of 
actions,  19. 

Happiness,  lot  of,  228  ;  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  428. 

Harbor,  storm  in  the,  178. 

Harmony  of  the  soul,  25. 

Hateful n ess  of  sin,  32. 

Hatred,  of  sin,  189  ;  of  men, 
213. 

Health,  of  tlie  soul,  79  ;  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  247. 

Heart,  the  sacred,  51  ;  joy  of, 
235 ;  sanctity  of,  245  ;  sor- 
rows of,  221. 

Hell,  negation  of,  62  ;  necessity 
of,  64,  72  ;  loss  of  God,  218  ; 
servile  fear  of,  227. 

Hemlock,  sin  compared  to,  31. 

Holiness  and  unholiness,  30. 

Holy  Ghost,  blasphemy  of  the, 
28,  41, 97, 153  ;  breathings  of, 
60  ;  bringing  back  the  will, 
149  ;  the  convincer  of  yin,  10, 
34 ;  fruits  of,  54  ;  gifts  of,  49, 


53,  112;  grieving  the,  89; 
guiding  of,  171 ;  indwelling 
of,  24,  48,  75,  82,  123  ;  life  of 
the  soul,  46,  71 ;  loss  of,  72  ; 
mission  of,  131 ;  office  of,  243  ; 
perfection  of,  25  ;  regenera- 
tion of,  26  ,  words  of,  77. 

Hope,  act  of,  114  ;  remaining 
after  sin,  55  ;  lamp  of,  111. 

Humility,  122. 

Ignorance,  vincible  and  invin- 
cible, 19  ;  in  the  intellect,  25, 
76,  171. 

Image  of  God,  13,  28. 

Imagination,  180. 

Immortality  of  man,  25. 

Impenitence,  sin  of,  29,  42  ; 
consciousness  of,  118. 

Impertinence  of  the  world,  22. 

Impetuosity,  sins  of,  73. 

Impiety,  stupendous,  16. 

Impurity,  sin  of.  30,  46,  74. 

Inde liberation,  sins  of,  73, 

Indulgence  of  the  palate,  195. 

Infants  dying  before  baptism, 
25. 

Infirmity,  sins  of,  73. 

Iniquity,  43. 

Innocence,  baptismal,  75. 

Insincerities,  little,  86. 

Integrity  in  soul,  24 ;  threefold, 
48. 

Intellect,  confusion  of,  24  ;  to 
convince  the,  10 ;  ignorance 
in,  24,  76,  171. 

Intoxication,  57. 

Irregularity,  122. 

Isaias,  quoted,  31,  139. 

Jealousy,  sin  of,  45,  74. 
Jerusalem,  the    daughters    of, 

139. 
Job,  the  patriarch  35  ;  trials  of, 

168. 
John,  St.,  the  beloved  disciple, 

125,  213,  233. 
Joy,  spirit  of,  255. 
Judas,  sin  of,  17,  41,  52, 120. 


262 


INDEX. 


Jade,  St.,  words  of,  48. 
Judgment,  day  of,  12,  91,  155, 

19(3 ;  of  God,  31,  42. 
Just,  the,  123. 
Justice,  original,  48. 

Knowledge  of  God,  30. 

Labor,  rest  from,  246. 

Lamps  of  faith,  hope,  and  char- 
ity, 121. 

Language,  acquisition  of,  78. 

Law,  of  God,  11 ;  transgression 
of,  12 ;  of  responsibility,  19 ; 
of  liberty,  107,  196. 

Lawgiver,  the  living,  16. 

Lazarus  and  Dives,  114  ;  in  the 
tomb,  212. 

Lent,  custom  of  dressing  in, 
197. 

Leprosy,  30  ;  of  the  soul,  133. 

Levity  of  matter,  74. 

Liberty,  law  of,  107,  196,  199, 
252. 

Life,  Bread  of,  132  ;  the  spirit- 
ual, 83. 

Light,  fullness  of,  11  ;  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  28,  33 ;  of  the 
intellect,  27 ;  of  glory,  249. 

Lot  of  the  Cross,  228,  meted  out 
by  God,  254. 

Malice  of  sin,  13,  14. 

Man,  perfections  of,  24. 

Mary,  Mother  of  God,  32,  214, 
235,  256  ;  Magdalen,  117,  138, 
154,  157,  214,  233,  236,  237, 
256. 

Matter,  remote  and  proximate, 
146. 

Memory,  180. 

Merit,  doctrine  of,  49,  184  ,  re- 
vival of,  150. 

Michael  the  archangel,  168. 

Milan,  the  people  of,  194. 

Mind,  action  of,  180. 

Money,  expenditure  of,  198. 

Morality,  independent,  15. 


Morals,  denial  of,  16  ;  definition 

of,  16 ;  of  dress,  196. 
Mortification  repulsive,  79. 
Moses,  28. 
Music,  learning  of,  79. 

Nature,  human,  14;  uncreated, 
of  God,  14 ;  perfections  of, 
76. 

Necessity  of  hell,  63,  72. 
Negation  of  the  devil,  169. 
Neighbor,  love  of  our,  250. 

Obedience,  life  of,  79  ;  state  of 
habitual,  73  ;  test  of,  22. 

Occasions  of  sin,  191 ;  necessary 
and  voluntary,  192. 

Office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  10. 

Omission,  sins  of,  106. 

Pain  of  loss,  26  ;  from  tempta- 
tion, 184. 
Palate,  indulgence  of  the,  195. 
Palsy  of  the  heart,  149. 
Parable  of  the    Prodigal    Son, 

117,  134,  154. 
Paradise,  Adam  in,  22. 
Parricide,  mater  al,  18. 
Pas-ions,  the,  178, 182. 
Paul  of  the  Cross.  St.,  111. 
Peace  of  God,  255. 
Penance,  definition  of,  133;  fruits 

of,  9,  137,  140,  143. 
Penitence,  132,  236. 
Penitent,  the  Absolver  of  the, 

29  ;  mark  of  the  true,  190. 
Perfections  of  man,  24,  39,  76;  of 

the  intellect,  113;  of  the  will, 

113. 
Peter,  St.,  sin  of,  120,  142,  143, 

214  ;  appearance  of  our  Lord 

to,  233,  236. 
Pharisee  in  the  Temple,  144. 
Philip  Neri,  St.,  words  of,  188. 
Pleasure  from  temptation,  184. 
Pomps  of  the  world,  170. 
Popularity  in  society,  89. 
Prayer,  duty  of,  109  ;  facility  of, 

80. 


INDEX. 


263 


Pr'de,  46,  47. 

Priesthood  of  Jesus  Christ,  146. 
Probation  of  the  angels,  47. 
Prodigal  Son,  parable   of,  117, 

135,  154. 
Providence  of  God,  255. 
Punishment,  eternal,  62. 

Reason,  dictates  of,  16 ;  illumi- 
nation of,  10. 

Recollection,  habit  of,  111. 

Redeemer,  sin  against  our.  28- 

Regeneration  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
26,  49. 

Relation  between  God  and  Man, 
16. 

Remembrance,  book  of,  51,  58, 
90,  103. 

Remorse,  64. 

Reparation,  spirit  of,  193. 

Repentance,  25,  60,  134  ;  opera- 
tion of,  71 ;  real,  75. 

Resistance  of  temptation,  185 ; 
of  the  known  truth,  153. 

Responsibility,  law  of,  19. 

Resurrection,  joy  of  the,  237, 
242. 

Revival  of  merits,  150. 

Sackilege  in  confession,  148, 
192. 

Sadnes3  caused  by  indulgence, 
254. 

Saint  Paul  of  the  Cross,  111 ;  Pe- 
ter, 17, 120, 141, 143,  213,  233, 
236  ;  Philip  Neri,  188. 

Saints,  all  called  to  be,  123. 

Sanctification,184,  187. 

Satan,  52,  66  ;  malice  of,  175  ; 
messenger  of,  186  ;  ministers 
of,  62, 168  ;  powerless  against 
the  will,  181  ;  spirit  of,  172. 

Saul  the  persecutor,  109,  226, 
239. 

School,  the  infidel,  15. 

Science,  falsely  so-called,  93. 

Self-assurance,  144. 

Self-denial,  sweetness  of,  79, 
199. 


Self-knowledge,  138,  186,  226. 

Self-love,  148,  254. 

Self-mortification,  186. 

Self-murder,  64,  72. 

Self-worship,  27,  254. 

Silence,  habit  of,  110. 

Siloe,  pool  of,  126. 

Simon  Magus,  the  sin  of,  41. 

Sin,  the  convincer  of,  10;  deadli- 
ness  of,  30  ;  definitions  of,  12, 
26, 149  ;  formal,  17  ;  of  infirm- 
ity, 73;  malice  of,  13,  27  ;  ma- 
terial, 18;  mortal  effects  of,  59; 
occasions  of,  191;  original,  21, 
25  ;  pain  following  on,  26;  ve- 
nial, 71 ;  wounds  of,  171. 

Sinfulness  of  man,  12  ;  of  diso- 
bedience, 17  ;  depth  of,  33. 

Sloth,  sin  of,  45,  73,  107. 

Sluggishness,  state  of,  111,  113. 

Society,  modern,  89. 

Solomon,  52. 

Soul,  integrity  of  the,  24  ;  lepro- 
sy of,  133  ;  the  life  of,  71 ;  sanc- 
tity of.  13  ;  windows  of,  181. 

Spirit,  the  Holy.  See  under  Holy 
Ghost 

Spirit  of  the  world,  171. 

S'.orm  in  the  harbor,  177. 

Stupidity  of  unbelief,  16. 

Surprise,  sins  of,  73. 


Temptation,  23, 125,  164, 181, 
191  ;  anguish  of,  271 ;  furnace 
of,  186  ;  giving  self-know- 
ledge, 186  ;  inevitable,  167  ; 
threefold,  172. 

Thanksgiving,  spirit  of,  256. 

Theatres,  94. 

Theresa,  St.,  on  venial  sin,  87. 

Thirst  of  our  Lord,  208. 

Thomas,  St.,  apostle,  238. 

Torment,  eternal,  25. 

Torrent  of  sweetness,  238. 

Transgression  of  the  law,  12 ; 
wantonness  of,  24. 

Trust  in  God,  219. 

Truth,  80. 


264: 


INDEX. 


Turbulence  in  the  passions,  25, 

76,  170. 
Twilight  of  conscience,  104. 

Unbelief,  stupidity  of,  16. 
Unholiness,  30. 
Unpunctuality,  112. 

Veils,  wearing  of,  197. 
Vermin  of  the  soul,  90. 
Virgins,  the  wise  and  foolish, 

126. 
Vision  of  God,  25,  216  ;  joys  of, 

243,  249. 

"Wantonness  of  transgression, 

23. 
Wayfarer  on  earth,  216. 
Weakness  in  the  will,  25,  76, 

170. 


Weariness  of  God,  120. 

Will  of  God,  13 ;  abuse  of,  14. 

Will  of  man,  weakness  of,  24,  25, 
76, 170;  change  of  the,  155;  the 
rational  appetite  of  the  soul, 
181;  at  variance  with  God ,229. 

Windows  of  the  soul,  181. 

Wisdom,  divine,  25. 

Word  of  God,  written,  39,  71. 

World,  spirit  of  the,  169  ;  imper- 
tinence of,  21  ;  impatient  of 
zeal,  116. 

Worms  of  death,  90. 

Worship  of  self,  27. 

Wounds  of  Adam,  25,  76,  170  ; 
the  Five  Sacred,  28 ;  of  our 
own  heart,  166. 

Zeal,  the  world's  impatience  of, 
117. 


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